Table 4 Comparison between renal disease standardised mortality ratios (adjusted for age, gender and socioeconomic status), 1981–2001, calculated using either distance as a proxy or modelled exposure contours to assess mercury exposure.
| Distance as proxy | Modelled exposure contours | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person years | Obs | Exp | SMR (95% CI) | Person years | Obs | Exp | SMR (95% CI) | |
| Males | ||||||||
| Reference | 65 394 296 | — | — | 100 (—) | 65 394 296 | — | — | 100 (—) |
| Medium exposure* | 2 669 850 | 148 | 120.04 | 123 (104 to 145) | 361 245 | 27 | 18.94 | 143 (94 to 207) |
| High exposure† | 174 006 | 18 | 9.68 | 186 (110 to 294) | 41 982 | 6 | 3.26 | 184 (68 to 400) |
| Females | ||||||||
| Reference | 68 870 244 | — | — | 100 (—) | 68 870 244 | — | — | 100 (—) |
| Medium exposure* | 2 755 171 | 194 | 148.70 | 131 (113 to 150) | ‡419 192 | ‡30 | ‡25.62 | ‡117 (79 to 167) |
| High exposure† | 179 417 | 23 | 11.49 | 200 (126 to 300) | ||||
Exp, expected; obs, observed; SMR, standardised mortality ratio.
*Medium exposure = 2–7.5 km (distance as proxy) or 4–10 ng/m3 (modelled exposure contours).
†High exposure = 0–2 km (distance as proxy) or >10 ng/m3 (modelled exposure contours).
– No data provided.
‡Due to small cell counts, the high and medium mercury exposure groups were combined to make one mercury‐exposed group (with ambient levels of >4 ng/m3).