Table 1

 Characteristics of the South Carolina asbestos textile workers cohort

White malesWhite femalesNon-white malesNon-white femalesTotal
*Length of follow-up through 2001. Person-years at risk was calculated from the later of rate file begin date, date achieve 15 years of age, and date achieve one month of employment between 1 January 1940 and 31 December 1965, through the earlier of date of death, study end date (31 December 2001), and date last observed to be alive.
†Length of follow-up through 1990.
Total number of workers12561244551213072
Vital status through 31 December 2001
    Alive373 (29.7%)339 (27.3%)129 (23.4%)5 (23.8%)846 (27.5%)
    Dead, cause of death known841 (67.0%)647 (52.0%)345 (62.6%)8 (38.1%)1841 (59.9%)
    Dead, cause of death unknown27 (2.1%)50 (4.0%)39 (7.1%)4 (19.0%)120 (3.9%)
    Lost to follow-up15 (1.2%)208 (16.7%)38 (6.9%)4 (19.0%)265 (8.6%)
Person-years at risk
    Vital status through 2001*49409.849163.919180.9758.0118512.6
    Vital status through 1990†43898.843743.817406.1674.6105723.3
Age at death, years median (range)64.5 (18.1–95.8)73.4 (22.6–101.0)61.0 (22.1–96.5)66.2 (47.5–90.0)67.1 (18.1–101.0)
Age at date last observed, years median (range)66.6 (18.1–95.8)74.1 (16.9–101.0)63.3 (16.9–96.5)72.8 (21.1–90.0)68.8 (16.9–101.0)
Cumulative exposure, fibre-years/ml median (range)4.4 (0.1–699.8)4.2 (0.2–317.1)14.5 (0.4–682.7)5.9 (0.5–216.0)5.5 (0.1–699.8)
Duration of employment, years median (range)1.1 (0.1–46.8)0.9 (0.1–43.7)1.5 (0.1–43.8)0.9 (0.1–30.9)1.1 (0.1–46.8)