MORTALITY OF FILLING STATION ATTENDANTS

OBJECTIVES - Gasoline contains established human carcinogens, such as benzene. The health impact of exposure to this fuel, however, has not been fully elucidated. We report on the mortality of a cohort of 2665 filling station managers from the Latium region (Italy). METHODS - Thi s is the first workplace-based cohort of gas station attendants. Howev er, only self-employed individuals were available for study (about 50% of the whole work force). The follow-up period extended from 1981 thr ough 1992. The mortality experience of the cohort was compared with th at of the regional population. RESULTS - The overall analysis for stan dardized mortality ratios (SMR) showed a significantly decreased morta lity from all causes, mainly due to a deficit of cardiovascular diseas es and malignant neoplasms. Nonsignificantly increased risks for esoph ageal cancer [SMR 241, 90% confidence interval (90% CI) 82-551], brain cancer (SMR 195, 90% CI 77-401) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (SMR 173, 90% CI 47-448) were found for the men; mortality due to lung cancer an d leukemia was lower than expected, and no kidney cancer death was rec orded. Among the attendants of small stations (characterized by a smal l number of employees and high sales of gasoline per full-time employe e), the SMR values for esophageal cancer (for men SMR 351, 90% CI 120- 803) and brain cancer (for men and women SMR 266, 90% CI 105-559) show ed increased values. CONCLUSIONS - Filling station attendants are expo sed to gasoline vapors and seem at risk of cancer of various sites. Du e to the power limitations of this study, however, a precise estimate of the risk for many causes of death was not achievable. Further cohor t studies of greater size are warranted.