NONMALIGNANT RESPIRATORY-DISEASE MORTALITY AMONG WOODWORKERS PARTICIPATING IN THE AMERICAN-CANCER-SOCIETY CANCER PREVENTION STUDY-II (CPS-II)

Nonmalignant respiratory disease (NMRD) mortality was examined among w oodworkers participating in the American Cancer Society's CPS-II cohor t study. During the 6-year prospective follow-up, there were 97 NMRD d eaths among 11,541 men reporting employment in wood-related occupation s and 1,338 NMRD deaths among 317,424 men reporting no exposure to woo d dust or wood-related jobs. Relative risks, adjusted for age and smok ing, were calculated using Poisson regression. A small excess of NMRD was observed among woodworkers. However, the relative risk was higher among woodworkers who did not report exposure to wood dust (RR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.18-1.97) than those who did (RR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.91-1.77 ), and no clear trend with duration of exposure was observed. An exces s of NMRD was observed among woodworkers reporting exposure to asbesto s (RR = 1.59, 95% CI = 0.85-2.96), as well as the small number of wood workers reporting exposure to formaldehyde (RR = 1.95, 95% CI = 0.63-6 .06), but men not reporting exposure to these substances also had an e xcess risk. Although limited by a short follow-up period and crude ind icators of exposure, the strengths of this analysis were the ability t o compare woodworkers to a similar, healthy population and to adjust f or the effects of smoking. Cohort studies with better exposure informa tion are needed to examine the role of occupational exposures among wo odworkers in the etiology of respiratory disease. Am J. Med. 34:238-24 3, 1998. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.