Extended cancer mortality follow-up of a German rubber industry cohort.

OBJECTIVE

We extended follow-up of a cohort of German rubber industry workers (active or retired in 1981) by 9 years (1992 to 2000) to reassess previously observed cancer mortality risks.

METHODS

We calculated standardized mortality ratios and stratified results by work area, duration of employment, and year of hire.

RESULTS

The cohort includes 11,632 men and 1863 women from five tire or general rubber goods producing factories. Among men we observed significantly elevated standardized mortality ratios for cancers of the lung and the pleura in the full cohort and in specific strata. Among women we observed a significantly elevated standardized mortality ratio for cancer of the lung.

CONCLUSIONS

We observed excess risk for several cancer sites among men and women. Further cancer risk analysis of workers in the rubber industry should focus on differences in work areas and associated exposures.