Chemical exposures of rocket-engine test-stand personnel and cancer mortality in a cohort of aerospace workers

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 6107 aerospace workers to exam ine whether exposure to chemicals-primarily hydrazine fuels-during rocket-e ngine fueling and testing affects cancer mortality. When conditional logist ic regression analysis was applied and adjusted for confounding variables, the estimated rate ratio for lung cancer mortality, comparing exposed to un exposed workers from the same facility, ranged from 1.68 (95% confidence in terval, 1.12 to 2.52) to 2.10 (95% confidence interval, 1.36 to 3.25), depe nding on job-duration threshold (6 or 24 months) and lag (0 to 15 years). S imilar results were obtained for hemato- and lymphopoietic cancer and for b ladder and kidney cancer mortality, but estimates for these cancers were im precise, We concluded that occupational exposure to hydrazine or other chem icals associated with rocket-engine testing jobs increased the risk of dyin g from lung cancer, and possibly other cancers, in this population of aeros pace workers; however, our results need to be replicated in other populatio ns.