Mortality among three refinery/petrochemical plant cohorts. I. 1970 to 1982 active/terminated workers

This study updates mortality rates for 19,075 active and terminated workers at three refinary/petrochemical plants. Mortality rates of the workers wer e compared with both national and state rates. The results indicated defici ts of deaths for all causes, all migration neoplasms, and respiratory and p rostate cancer. The noteworthy finding was a statistically significant incr ease in leukemia amoung Lousiana male subjects (standardized mortality rati o [SMR], 181; 95% confidence interval [CI], 122 to 259), which showed sugge stive trends of increasing SMRs with increasing tenure. This excess was lar gely due to increased chronic lymphocytic leukemia (SMR, 351; 95% CI, 168 t o 645). The rate of kidney cancer remained elevated amoung Louisiana male s ubjects, but this finding was no longer significant, and there were no patt erns in SMRs by tenure and latency. Mesothelioma was increased at the Louis iana (SMR, 198; 95% CI, 72 to 430) and Texas (SMR, 246; 95% CI, 99 to 507) locations. The leukemia findings have prompted a study of leukemia incidenc e at the Louisiana location.