Abstract
The cohort of viscose rayon workers previously described by Tiller et al has been reconstructed and followed up to the end of 1982. The pattern of mortality at ages 45 to 64 for the extended period 1950-82 is similar to that described by Tiller et al for 1950-64. The spinners, the workers most heavily exposed to carbon disulphide, have a significantly higher mortality from all causes than the least exposed group. The excess mortality is largely accounted for by ischaemic heart disease (IHD) for which the spinners have an SMR of 172. When mortality is related to an exposure score in the same group, both all cause (p less than 0.01) and IHD (p less than 0.001) mortality increase with increasing exposure level. When this analysis is repeated covering all ages these trends become much less strong and only that for IHD remains significant (p less than 0.05). Over the age of 65 there is a tendency for mortality to decline with increasing exposure. This is contrary to expectation under the usual hypothesis that carbon disulphide promotes atherosclerosis. Instead it suggests that carbon disulphide has some type of reversible, direct cardiotoxic or thrombotic effect. This is supported by the findings that there is a strong trend (p less than 0.01) for IHD mortality to increase with increasing exposure in the previous two years. Further, both IHD (p less than 0.001) and total (p less than 0.01) mortality show highly significant trends with exposure among current workers but no such trends among workers who have left the industry.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Acheson E. D., Barnes H. R., Gardner M. J., Osmond C., Pannett B., Taylor C. P. Formaldehyde process workers and lung cancer. Lancet. 1984 May 12;1(8385):1066–1067. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)91466-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fox A. J., Collier P. F. Low mortality rates in industrial cohort studies due to selection for work and survival in the industry. Br J Prev Soc Med. 1976 Dec;30(4):225–230. doi: 10.1136/jech.30.4.225. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hill I. D. Computing man years at risk. Br J Prev Soc Med. 1972 May;26(2):132–134. doi: 10.1136/jech.26.2.132. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Liddell F. D. Simple exact analysis of the standardised mortality ratio. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1984 Mar;38(1):85–88. doi: 10.1136/jech.38.1.85. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Mancuso T. F., Locke B. Z. Carbon disulphide as a cause of suicide. Epidemiological study of viscose rayon workers. J Occup Med. 1972 Aug;14(8):595–606. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nurminen M., Hernberg S. Effects of intervention on the cardiovascular mortality of workers exposed to carbon disulphide: a 15 year follow up. Br J Ind Med. 1985 Jan;42(1):32–35. doi: 10.1136/oem.42.1.32. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nurminen M., Mutanen P., Tolonen M., Hernberg S. Quantitated effects of carbon disulfide exposure, elevated blood pressure and aging on coronary mortality. Am J Epidemiol. 1982 Jan;115(1):107–118. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113265. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Oliver L. C., Weber R. P. Chest pain in rubber chemical workers exposed to carbon disulphide and methaemoglobin formers. Br J Ind Med. 1984 Aug;41(3):296–304. doi: 10.1136/oem.41.3.296. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tiller J. R., Schilling R. S., Morris J. N. Occupational toxic factor in mortality from coronary heart disease. Br Med J. 1968 Nov 16;4(5628):407–411. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5628.407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tolonen M., Hernberg S., Nordman C. H., Goto S., Sugimoto K., Baba T. Angina pectoris, electrocardiographic findings and blood pressure in Finnish and Japanese workers exposed to carbon disulfide. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1976 Sep 6;37(4):249–264. doi: 10.1007/BF00380109. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Tolonen M., Nurminen M., Hernberg S. Ten-year coronary mortality of workers exposed to carbon disulfide. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1979 Jun;5(2):109–114. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.2662. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- VIGLIANI E. C. Carbon disulphide poisoning in viscose rayon factories. Br J Ind Med. 1954 Oct;11(4):235–244. doi: 10.1136/oem.11.4.235. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wrońska-Nofer T., Szendzikowski S., Obrebska-Parke M. Influence of chronic carbon disulphide intoxication on the development of experimental atherosclerosis in rats. Br J Ind Med. 1980 Nov;37(4):387–393. doi: 10.1136/oem.37.4.387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]