Cancer incidence among semiconductor and electronic storage device workers

Thomas John Bender ^1*, Colleen Beall ¹, Hong Cheng ¹, Robert F. Herrick ², Amy R. Kahn ³, Robert Matthews ¹, Nalini Sathiakumar ¹, Maria J. Schymura ³, James H. Stewart ² and Elizabeth Delzell ¹

¹ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, United States
² Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, United States
³ New York State Cancer Registry, New York State Department of Health, United States

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: thomas.john.bender{at}gmail.com.

Accepted 29 June 2006

Abstract

Aims. To evaluate cancer incidence among workers at two facilities in the United States that made semiconductors and electronic storage devices.

Methods. Subjects were 89,054 men and women employed by International Business Machines. We compared employees’ incidence rates with general population rates and examined incidence patterns by facility, duration of employment, time since first employment, manufacturing era, potential for exposure to workplace environments other than offices, and work activity.

Results. For employees at the semiconductor manufacturing facility the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for all cancers combined was 81 (1,541 observed cases, 95% confidence interval (CI)=77-85) and for employees at the storage device manufacturing facility the SIR was 87 (1,319 observed cases, CI=82-92). The subgroups of employees with 15+ years since hire and 5+ years worked had 6-16% fewer total incident cases than expected. SIRs were increased for a number of cancers in certain employee subgroups, but analyses of incidence patterns by potential exposure and by years spent and time since starting in specific work activities did not clearly indicate that the excesses were due to occupational exposure.

Conclusions. This study did not provide strong or consistent evidence of causal associations with employment factors. Data on employees with long potential induction time and many years worked were limited. Further follow-up will permit a more informative analysis of cancer incidence that might be plausibly related to workplace exposures in the cohort.

Keywords: Follow-Up Studies, Incidence, Neoplasms, Occupational Diseases, Registries

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