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Occupational cancer mortality among urban women in the former USSR

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Abstract

Occupational cancer mortality was evaluated among approximately three million female pensioners from urban areas of the former USSR. In 1970, these women experienced 14,918 cancer deaths. Occupational data were obtained from death certificates and the 1970 USSR National Population Census. Thirty-five occupational groups, including nine predominantly professional or office-work groups and 26 groups involving physical labor, were evaluated. The expected mortality rates were based on the urban female population of the USSR in 1970. Data for all cancer sites combined, and cancers of the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, lung, breast, cervix, and hematopoietic system are presented. Among all female pensioners, there were significant increases of all cancers combined (rate ratio [RR]=1.05), and cancers of the breast (RR=1.3), cervix (RR=1.3), and the hematopoietic system (RR=1.2), and a significant deficit of cancer of the esophagus (RR=0.8). Many well-established associations between cancer and occupation among men were observed among the study group of female pensioners, such as stomach and lung cancer among miners, and hematopoietic malignancies among scientists and physicians. Other associations, to be investigated further, also were observed, such as excess lung cancer among waitresses. The peak employment period for this cohort of women was during World War II and the postwar period, when Soviet women outnumbered men almost two-to-one. Consequently, many of the women held jobs that are typically held by men. Thus, this study provides valuable information on occupational risks to women that may be relevant in other countries where women increasingly are being employed in jobs traditionally held by men.

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Authors
  1. Mariana Bulbulyan
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  2. Shelia Hoar Zahm
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  3. David G. Zaridze
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Additional information

Due to recent events, the United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) no longer exists as a political entity. For simplicity and bistorical accuracy, bowever, the text generally refers to the USSR and Soviet institutions that were so named when the study was conducted.

Drs Bulbulyan and Zaridze are with the Department of Cancer Epidemiology, Institute of Carcinogenesis, All-Union Oncological Research Center, Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Dr Zahm, to whom correspondence should be addressed, is with the Occupational Studies Section, Environmental Epidemiology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Executive Plaza North, Room 418, Rockville, MD 20892, USA.

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Bulbulyan, M., Zahm, S.H. & Zaridze, D.G. Occupational cancer mortality among urban women in the former USSR. Cancer Causes Control 3, 299–307 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146882

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