New views on the hypothesis of respiratory cancer risk from soluble nickel exposure; and reconsideration of this risk's historical sources in nickel refineries

James G Heller; Philip G Thornhill; Bruce R Conard

doi:10.1186/1745-6673-4-23

Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology

Table 10 Lung and nasal cancer risk in other nickel operations with environmental exposures to soluble nickel

From: New views on the hypothesis of respiratory cancer risk from soluble nickel exposure; and reconsideration of this risk's historical sources in nickel refineries

Location of nickel operation & Category of work	Variable with levels	Follow up period	Lung cancer		Nasal cancer
			Obs	SIR/SMR	Obs	SIR/SMR
Clydach Wales refinery:	Year first employed:
All workers^a	Before 1920	1931–1985	83	617^{j, n}	55	37647^{j, n}
"	1920–1929	1931–1985	88	314^{j, n}	12	7255^{j, n}
"	1930–1939	1931–1985	20	138^j	1	1434^{j, n}
"	1940–1949	1940–1985	14	118^j	0	-
"	1950–1992	1950–1985	9	84^j	0	-
All workers^b	1953–1992	1958–2000	28	139^{j, k}	1	995^{j, n}
"	1953–1962	1958–2000	18	137^j
"	1963–1972	1963–2000	10	156^j
"	1973–1992	1973–2000	0	0
Port Colborne Ontario refinery:^{c, d}	Duration of exposure:
LC&S workers	≥ 5 years	1950–1984	38	366^{j, n}	15	17045^{j, n}
"	25+ years	"	7	363^{j, n}	0	-
"	Total	"	72	241^{j, n}	19	7755^{j, n}
Non-LC&S workers	≥ 5 years	"	29	97^j	0	-
"	25+ years	"	17	89^j	0	-
"	Total	"	30	93^j	0	-
Nickel anode work^p	"	"	7	91^j
Electrolytic work^p	"	"	23	99^j
Yard/Transportation work^p	"	"	21	87^j
Harjavalta Finland smelter & refinery:^e
All nickel exposed workers	Latency 20+ years	1953–1995	20	212^{i, m}	2	1590^{i, n}
Smelter workers	Latency 20+ years	"	13	200^{i, l}	0	-
"	5+ years exposed	"	8	101ⁱ	0	-
"	<5 years exposed	"	7	250^{i, l}	0	-
Refinery workers	Latency 20+ years	"	6	338^{i, m}	2	6710^{i, n}
"	5+ years exposed	"	3	199ⁱ	2	7520^{i, n}
"	<5 years exposed	"	3	375^{i, l}	0	-
Thompson Manitoba refinery:^{f, g}	Year first employed:
All workers	1960–1986	1960–1986	25	116^j	0	-
Salaried workers	1960–1986	1960–1986	5	155ⁱ	0	-
Miners (hourly workers)	1960–1986	1960–1986	7	96^j	0	-
Smelter workers (hourly)	1960–1986	1960–1986	4	155ⁱ	0	-
Refinery workers (hourly)	1960–1986	1960–1986	6	172^j	0	-
British nickel plating company:^h	Year first employed:
All workers	1945–1975	1945–1993	11	108^j	0	-

^a Easton et al. (1992) [13]. ^b Sorahan et al. (2005) [21]. ^c Roberts et al. (1989) [9, 10]. ^d 15+ years since first exposure. ^e Antilla et al. (1998) [23]. ^f Roberts et al. (1991) [F1]. ^g Male workers with 15+ years since first exposure. Incidence ratios include salaried & hourly workers; mortality ratios include hourly workers. ^h Pang et al. (1996) [24]. ⁱ SIR- Standardized Incidence Ratio. ^j SMR- Standardized Mortality Ratio. ^k p < 0.1. ^l p < 0.05. ^m p < 0.01. ⁿ p < 0.001. ^p Included all men who ever worked in the given category from their first date of work in that category. CI-Confidence Interval. LC&S-Leaching, Calcining and Sintering work. Non-LC&S work included the electrolysis and nickel anode departments, yard and transportation work.

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