Abstract
Statistical analysis of the relevant subseries from an overall series of about 17,000 patients admitted at the Roswell Memorial Park Institute between 1956 and 1965 revealed that the occupations most highly associated with an increased incidence of cancers belong to the chemical subgroup. These occupations are barbers, operatives in the chemical industry, operatives in the leather industry, painters and printers. The occupations related to the inhalation of combustion products are: bakers, deliverymen and routemen, kitchen workers, locomotive engineers, mechanics and repairmen, stationary engineers and firemen. Elevated relative risks showed up in the chemical subgroup among barbers (larynx cancer), among operatives in the chemical industry (larynx cancer and stomach cancer), among operatives in the leather industry (oral cancer, pharynx cancer, larynx cancer and bladder cancer), among painters (esophagus and stomach) and among print workers (cancer of the oral cavity and and pharynx). The occupations in the combustion subgroups appeared less associated with an increased incidence of cancers than those in the chemical subgroup. Moderately elevated relative risks appeared among bakers in malignant lymphomas, among bus drivers, taxi drivers and truck drivers in cancer of the pancreas, among locomotive engineers in cancer of the buccal cavity and pharynx and lymphomas and among mechanics and repairmen in cancers of the nose, pancreas and prostate. However, only a few relative risks were statistically significant such as skin cancer (other than melanoma, age group 14- 60) and prostate cancer in mechanics and repairmen. (Contract No. 210-75-0025)
