A 39-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF THE UK OIL REFINERY AND DISTRIBUTION CENTER STUDIES - RESULTS FOR KIDNEY CANCER AND LEUKEMIA

This paper presents briefly some of the principal results of a mortali ty analysis of a cohort of workers employed for at least 1 year betwee n 1950 and 1975 at eight oil refineries and approximately 750 distribu tion centers in the U.K., together with detailed results for kidney ca ncer and leukemia. Over 99% of the workers were successfully traced. T heir mortality was compared with that of all males in the national pop ulation. The mortality from all causes of death is lower than that of the comparison population in both studies, and reduced mortality is al so found for many of the major nonmalignant causes of death. In the re finery study, some increased mortality patterns are found for diseases of the arteries, and no healthy worker effect is found in the distrib ution center study for ischemic heart disease. Mortality from all neop lasms is lower than expected overall in both studies, largely due to a deficit of deaths from malignant neoplasm of the lung. Mortality from malignant neoplasm of the kidney is increased overall in the distribu tion center study, and in drivers in particular The mortality from thi s disease increases with increased time since first exposure. The obse rved deaths from leukemia are slightly less than expected in the refin ery study and slightly more than expected in the distribution center s tudy. One refinery shows increased mortality due to in myeloid leukemi a, and mortality is increased among refinery operators. Mortality is a lso raised in distribution center drivers, particularly for myeloid le ukemias, including acute myeloid leukemia.