MORTALITY AMONG A COHORT OF ELECTRIC-UTILITY-WORKERS, 1960-1991

Overall mortality trends among an electric utility workforce are exami ned. The study cohort (n = 40,335) included all workers with at least 1 year of work experience from 1960-1991; 3,753 deaths were observed i n this cohort. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and internal cohor t analyses were used to assess mortality trends for the entire cohort and for specific occupational groups. Most SMRs were less than or equa l to 1.0 and were generally lower for noncancer (cardiovascular, COPD, and injuries) than for cancer mortality. Compared to office staff rat e ratios (RR) were higher for respiratory cancers for field staff [(RR = 2.3, 95% CI, 1.0-5.0) linecrew (RR = 2.2 95% CI, 1.5-3.1), and powe r plant occupations (RR = 2.4, 95% CI, 1.6-3.6)]. Nonmanagement occupa tions had rate ratios for motor vehicle injuries and all types of inju ries, within a range of 2.5-4.7, with all lower CIs > 1.0. The healthy worker effect is an important factor in explaining the difference bet ween SMR and internal cohort analyses results. The SMR results indicat e that this workforce has lower rates for overall mortality, cardiovas cular disease, cancer and nonintentional injury. A consistent finding in the internal cohort analyses that merits further research was highe r mortality rates for respiratory cancer and injuries among nonoffice staff. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.