ADJUSTMENT FOR THE CONFOUNDING EFFECT OF CIGARETTE-SMOKING IN AN HISTORICAL COHORT MORTALITY STUDY OF WORKERS IN A FIBERGLASS MANUFACTURINGFACILITY

In 1986 a statistically significant lung cancer SMR based on U.S. whit e mab national mortality rates was reported for male fibrous glass wor kers for follow-up through 1982 of a cohort of U.S. man-made mineral f iber workers. The Newark Ohio, plant of Owens-Corning, which comprised 38% of the fibrous glass workers in that cohort, also exhibited a sta tistically significant lung cancer standardized mortality ratio based on U.S. white male mortality rates. A case-control study of the Newark workers demonstrated that a history of cigarette smoking and not expo sure to respirable glass is the most important factor in lung cancer r isk for workers at the Newark plant. We provide an estimate of the ext ent of confounding by cigarette smoking for the Newark plant nationall y based lung cancer standardized mortality ratio with data not previou sly available and which suggests that adjusting for the confounding ef fect of cigarette smoking could reduce the lung cancer standardized mo rtality ratio to a nonstatistically significant level.