200086 Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant mortality study: Job title analysis

Sunday, November 8, 2009

M. Caroline Chan, MPH , Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Louisville, KY
Therese S. Hughes, PhD , Epidemiology, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Louisville, KY
Susan B. Muldoon, PhD , Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Louisville, KY
Tim Aldrich, PhD , College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Carol Rice, PhD, CIH , College of Medicine, Department of Environmental Health, Division of Environmental and Occupational Hygiene, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
Richard Hornung, DrPH , Director of Biostatistics & Data Management; Division of General & Community Pediatrics Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
David J. Tollerud, MD, MPH , Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Louisville, KY
The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) is currently the only operating uranium enrichment facility in the U.S, and the only one that has not undergone an assessment of worker mortality. It was commissioned in 1952 as part of a U.S. government program to produce enriched uranium to fuel military reactors and produce nuclear weapons. Demographic, work history and vital status data were collected on 6820 workers. A total of 1674 deaths were identified.

The Life Table Analysis System (LTAS) was used to analyze outcomes based on job title. Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) and Standardized Risk Ratios (SRRs) were calculated analyzing the cohort for 92 causes of death. Job titles at the plant were condensed into 44 grouped job titles based on similarity of task and exposures. Analyses were further limited to job titles with a minimum of 5% of the person years of the whole cohort, resulting in 11 job titles analyzed. Lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers have been associated with low-dose radiation exposure and were of a-priori interest.

All causes and all cancers outcomes had significantly lower SMRs than the referent population, reflecting a strong healthy worker effect. Non-significant elevations were found for lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers for the job titles Chemical Operator, Maintenance, and Security. Security had a significant elevation in Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Office workers had a significant elevation in colon cancer. Elevations in deaths due to Alzheimer's disease were found to reach significance for the cohort and the job titles Laboratory and Maintenance.

Learning Objectives:
1. List outcomes that demonstrate the healthy worker effect. 2. Discuss the strengths and limitations of using job title as a surrogate for exposure. 3. Identify job titles with elevated standardized mortality ratios for lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers.

Keywords: Occupational Exposure, Outcomes Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have done the analyses on this cohort.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Occupational Health and Safety Posters - Industrial Hygiene and Exposures
See more of: Occupational Health and Safety