CANCER MORTALITY AMONG MAGAZINE PRINTING WORKERS

Objectives-After an inquiry from the employees of an offset printing p lant, a historical cohort study was conducted to investigate cancer mo rtality among these workers. Methods-The cohort comprised 262 men, who contributed 2771 person-years of observation. 16 deaths were identifi ed during the follow up period (1980-91). Expected numbers of deaths w ere derived from age specific regional rates. Standardised mortality r atios (SMR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Re sults-An increased cancer mortality was found after 10 years of employ ment (SMR 213, 95% CI 98 to 405, based on nine deaths), mainly due to a high mortality from lung cancer (SMR 381, 95% CI 104 to 975, four de aths), and from oesophageal cancer (SMR 1049, 95% CI 216 to 3065, thre e deaths). For workers with at least 20 years since the start of emplo yment, the SMR was 262 (95% CI 105 to 540) for all cancer sites, 447 ( 95% CI 92 to 1306) for lung cancer, and 1094 (95% CI 132 to 3952) for oesophageal cancer. The increased cancer mortality was concentrated am ong pressmen. Conclusion-Although based on small numbers, the findings suggest an increased risk of cancer among these workers, which should be further investigated.