Short report
Mortality and cancer incidence among Swedish lumberjacks exposed
to phenoxy herbicides
Åke Thörna, Per Gustavssonb, Jonas Sadighb, Brita Westerlund-Hännestrandc, Christer Hogstedtd
a Unit for
Occupational Health, Sunderby Sjukhus, S-971 80 Luleå, Sweden, b Department of Occupational
Health, Karolinska Hospital, S-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden, c BeFris
Läkarmottagning, Box 3105, 750 03 Uppsala, Sweden, d National
Institute for Working Life, S-171 84 Solna, Sweden
Correspondence to: Åke Thörn ake.thorn{at}nll.se
Accepted 23 June 2000
OBJECTIVES
To
determine mortality and cancer incidence relative to exposure to
phenoxy herbicides.
METHODSA cohort of
Swedish lumberjacks of which 261 were exposed to phenoxy herbicides,
and 250 were unexposed, was followed up for mortality from 1954 to
1994, and for cancer incidence from 1958 to 1992. The number of days of
exposure to phenoxy herbicides was determined from pay slips. With the
county population as a reference, standardised mortality ratios and
cancer incidence ratios (SMR and SIR) were calculated.
RESULTSMortality and
cancer incidence were low with two exceptions; a small but highly
exposed group of foremen showed an increased cancer incidence (SIR 274, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 100 to 596), and over all mortality
(SMR 141, 95% CI 68 to 260). Of three cases of non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, two were found among the most exposed workers.
CONCLUSIONSThe
results provide some support to claims of previous studies that
exposure to phenoxy herbicides might be related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and to an increased overall cancer risk.
Keywords: phenoxy herbicides; lumberjacks; cancer
© 2000 by Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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