Cancer mortality in a cohort of continuous glass filament workers

OBJECTIVE: To examine cancer mortality in continuous glass filament workers. METHODS: A cohort of 936 continuous glass filament workers employed in a plant from northern Italy since January 1976 was followed-up through December 2003, for a total of 19,987 man-years. RESULTS: Overall, 144 deaths were observed compared with 160.8 expected based on regional death rates (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.76 to 1.05). There were 53 deaths from all cancers (SMR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.75 to 1.32), and 21 from lung cancer (SMR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.76 to 1.89). There was no consistent relation with risk for age at first employment, time since first or last employment, or duration of employment for any of the causes considered. CONCLUSIONS: Although limited in size, this study provides no evidence that continuous glass filament workers experience a significant increased risk of cancer, including respiratory cancer.