MORTALITY PATTERNS IN FEMALE DOMESTIC WORKERS

To investigate mortality patterns for domestic workers, proportional m ortality ratios (PMRs) were calculated for the 1,382 female domestic w orkers who died in British Columbia at age 20 years or over between 19 ,50 and 1984. This group experienced fewer deaths than expected from c erebrovascular accidents (PMR = 84) and hypertension (PMR = 39). The p roportion of deaths from cirrhosis was higher than expected (PMR = 152 ). An excess of observed deaths was also noted for all accidents (PMR = 126), accidents due to environmental factors (PMR = 439), and homici de (PMR = 235). Mortality from pneumonia was elevated for domestic wor kers aged 20 to 65 (PMR = 180). Further studies using more sophisticat ed epidemiologic methods are necessary to evaluate whether these death s are a result of occupational exposures or of poor socioeconomic cond itions.