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Document ID (ISN)74232
CIS number 00-171
ISSN - Serial title 0271-3586 - American Journal of Industrial Medicine
Year 1999
Convention or series no.
Author(s) Säverin R., Bräunlich A., Dahmann D., Enderlein G., Heuchert G.
Title Diesel exhaust and lung cancer mortality in potash mining
Bibliographic information Oct. 1999, Vol.36, No.4, p.415-422. Illus. 15 ref.
Abstract The association between lung cancer mortality and exposure to diesel exhaust was investigated in a cohort of 5,536 male potash miners who were followed from 1970 to 1994. Quantitative exposure was assessed from concentration measurements of the total carbon in personal dust samples, multiplied by years of exposure. Work histories and smoking habit data were obtained from medical company records. During the follow-up period, 424 deaths were recorded, including 133 of cancer, 38 of lung cancer. The relative risk of lung cancer between groups with high and low exposure was 2.2. With Cox regression, a relative risk of 1.7 for lung cancer after twenty years of exposure was found. Smoking was not a confounding factor. The principal finding is a doubling of relative lung cancer risk after twenty years of exposure in the workplaces with highest exposure. However, the observed elevation is nonsignificant even at a 90% level. Further follow-up is intended to enhance the study power.
Descriptors (primary) diesel engines; mortality; potash mining; exhaust gases; lung cancer
Descriptors (secondary) personal sampling; healthy worker effect; Germany; respirable dust; long-term exposure; exposure evaluation; cohort study; long-term study; hazard evaluation
Document type D - Periodical articles
Country / State or ProvinceGermany
Subject(s) Occupational pathology
Broad subject area(s) Chemical safety
Browse category(ies) Mining and quarrying
Diseases of the respiratory system (except for pneumoconiosis & similar)