Workers in Australian prebake aluminium smelters: update on risk of mortality and cancer incidence in the Healthwise cohort
Workers in Australian prebake aluminium smelters: update on risk of mortality and cancer incidence in the Healthwise cohort
Objectives: to investigate mortality and the rates of incident cancer among a cohort of aluminium industry workers.
Methods: among 4507 male employees who worked in either of two Australian prebake smelters for at least 3 months, data linkage was undertaken with the Australian National Death Index and Australian Cancer Database. Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs) and Standardised Incidence Rates (SIRs) were estimated for the whole cohort and for: production; maintenance and office workers. SMRs and SIRs were calculated by time since first employment.
Results: among production workers, there was an excess risk of mortality from mesothelioma (SMR 2.8, 95% CI 1.3 to 5.2), lung (SMR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.8), prostate (SMR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.7) and liver cancer (SMR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.4) and the SIR was also increased for overall respiratory cancers, specifically lung cancers. An excess risk of death from stomach cancer (SMR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 6.1) and Alzheimer's disease (SMR 3.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 7.9) was seen among maintenance workers. The overall risk of death was similar to that of the Australian general population, as was mortality from cancers overall and non-malignant respiratory disease.
Conclusions: no excess risk of death from bladder cancer or non-malignant respiratory disease was found. Excess lung cancer mortality and incidence may be explained by smoking and excess mortality from mesothelioma may be explained by asbestos exposure. An excess risk of mortality from liver and prostate cancer has been shown in production workers and requires further investigation.
Aluminum/adverse effects, Australia/epidemiology, Cause of Death, Cohort Studies, Humans, Incidence, Lung Neoplasms, Male, Mesothelioma, Malignant/complications, Mesothelioma/etiology, Neoplasms, Occupational Diseases/etiology, Occupational Exposure/adverse effects, Mortality, Mesothelioma, Cancer
160-169
Del Monaco, Anthony
40b0c0a1-22f7-4d42-b6b1-1383087a8082
Dimitriadis, Christina
c6e67d9e-10a6-41ce-baf0-73e23d052a49
Xie, Sophia
71276d5d-5132-4314-8239-954cb52aa76c
Benke, Geza
d55219f8-4f83-439c-93f0-7e6ad43d852b
Sim, Malcolm Ross
a1465bce-9ed6-4cfc-b6b2-0317bf5bc198
Walker-Bone, Karen
ad7d1336-ed2c-4f39-ade5-da84eb412109
March 2023
Del Monaco, Anthony
40b0c0a1-22f7-4d42-b6b1-1383087a8082
Dimitriadis, Christina
c6e67d9e-10a6-41ce-baf0-73e23d052a49
Xie, Sophia
71276d5d-5132-4314-8239-954cb52aa76c
Benke, Geza
d55219f8-4f83-439c-93f0-7e6ad43d852b
Sim, Malcolm Ross
a1465bce-9ed6-4cfc-b6b2-0317bf5bc198
Walker-Bone, Karen
ad7d1336-ed2c-4f39-ade5-da84eb412109
Del Monaco, Anthony, Dimitriadis, Christina, Xie, Sophia, Benke, Geza, Sim, Malcolm Ross and Walker-Bone, Karen
(2023)
Workers in Australian prebake aluminium smelters: update on risk of mortality and cancer incidence in the Healthwise cohort.
Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 80 (3), .
(doi:10.1136/oemed-2022-108605).
Abstract
Objectives: to investigate mortality and the rates of incident cancer among a cohort of aluminium industry workers.
Methods: among 4507 male employees who worked in either of two Australian prebake smelters for at least 3 months, data linkage was undertaken with the Australian National Death Index and Australian Cancer Database. Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs) and Standardised Incidence Rates (SIRs) were estimated for the whole cohort and for: production; maintenance and office workers. SMRs and SIRs were calculated by time since first employment.
Results: among production workers, there was an excess risk of mortality from mesothelioma (SMR 2.8, 95% CI 1.3 to 5.2), lung (SMR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.8), prostate (SMR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3 to 2.7) and liver cancer (SMR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1 to 3.4) and the SIR was also increased for overall respiratory cancers, specifically lung cancers. An excess risk of death from stomach cancer (SMR 2.9, 95% CI 1.2 to 6.1) and Alzheimer's disease (SMR 3.4, 95% CI 1.1 to 7.9) was seen among maintenance workers. The overall risk of death was similar to that of the Australian general population, as was mortality from cancers overall and non-malignant respiratory disease.
Conclusions: no excess risk of death from bladder cancer or non-malignant respiratory disease was found. Excess lung cancer mortality and incidence may be explained by smoking and excess mortality from mesothelioma may be explained by asbestos exposure. An excess risk of mortality from liver and prostate cancer has been shown in production workers and requires further investigation.
Text
Revised manuscript clean 9.12.22
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 16 December 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 31 January 2023
Published date: March 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The Healthwise study was funded by Alcoa of Australia Ltd (PO Box 252, ApplecrossWA 6953) (Award Number: Not applicable). The sponsor had no direct involvement in study design, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, the writing of the report or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Aluminum/adverse effects, Australia/epidemiology, Cause of Death, Cohort Studies, Humans, Incidence, Lung Neoplasms, Male, Mesothelioma, Malignant/complications, Mesothelioma/etiology, Neoplasms, Occupational Diseases/etiology, Occupational Exposure/adverse effects, Mortality, Mesothelioma, Cancer
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 477350
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/477350
ISSN: 1351-0711
PURE UUID: 64596ca2-ab68-4b41-b70d-afd1587d1151
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 05 Jun 2023 16:41
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:50
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Contributors
Author:
Anthony Del Monaco
Author:
Christina Dimitriadis
Author:
Sophia Xie
Author:
Geza Benke
Author:
Malcolm Ross Sim
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