Cancer and Non-cancer Mortality in Meat Workers (1 RO1-OH 008687-01 A1 SOH)

描述（由申请人提供）：队列死亡率研究一直是评估工作场所暴露导致受试者患癌症和其他慢性疾病风险的主要方法。它们已被证明在检测石棉、苯、苯胺染料等物质对工人的致癌作用方面是有效和可靠的。它们也是流行病学证据的主要来源，这些证据表明这些物质对人类具有致癌性。这些措施导致了监管行动，大大减少了工作场所的此类有害接触，从而成功地保护了工人的健康。然而，尽管在各种职业和工业群体中进行了大量的这些研究，但在美国，肉类行业的工人并没有受到太多的关注，他们高度暴露于已知是癌症，神经系统疾病（如“疯牛病”）和其他严重传染病的潜在原因的传染性物质，这些疾病在他们工作时处理的动物中。除了在这项拟议研究中收集的队列外，据我们所知，这一职业群体以前没有在美国的队列研究中进行过死亡率评估，尽管其他国家的类似研究表明，这些工人患癌症等疾病的风险可能会增加。我们先前研究了1949年至1989年期间的死亡率（癌症和非癌症），其中18，426名受试者在屠宰场，肉类加工厂和超市工作，这些受试者在处理牛，猪和羊或其产品时暴露于这些传染性病原体，而未暴露的对照组为6，078名未暴露的受试者。从马里兰州巴尔的摩当地切肉工人工会的名册中确定暴露和未暴露受试者。在本申请中，我们建议更新队列中截至2005年底的死亡率，到那时，估计队列中65%的人将死亡，而上一次随访结束时为20%。此外，虽然在之前的随访中仅评价了60种死亡原因，但在本申请中，将调查总共185种死亡原因。据我们所知，这许多死亡原因以前没有在任何职业群体中进行过调查。这项研究有可能将人类的重要慢性疾病与食用动物职业接触传染性病原体联系起来，并将为未来计划的研究提供基础。传染病是NIOSH的优先领域。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cohort mortality studies have been the mainstay for evaluating cancer and other chronic disease risks in subjects resulting from exposures in the workplace. They have proven effective and reliable in detecting the carcinogenic effects of agents such as asbestos, benzene, aniline dyes, etc. in workers. They have also been the main sources of the epidemiologic evidence that these agents are carcinogenic in humans. They have led to regulatory actions that have resulted in the dramatic reduction of such harmful exposures in the workplace, hence succeeded in protecting workers' health. However, although a large number of these studies have been conducted in various occupational and industrial groups, much attention has not been paid in the United States to workers in the meat industry who are highly exposed to transmissible agents known to be potent causes of cancer, neurologic diseases such as 'mad cow' disease, and other severe infectious diseases in the animals they handle at work. Apart from the cohort assembled in this proposed study, to our knowledge this occupational group has not previously been evaluated for mortality in cohort studies in the US, even though similar studies in other countries have suggested these workers may be at increased risk of developing diseases such as cancer. We previously studied mortality (cancer and non-cancer) for the period 1949 to 1989 in an exposed cohort of 18,426 subjects who worked in abattoirs, meatpacking plants and supermarkets where exposure to these transmissible agents occurred from handling cattle, pigs and sheep or their products, and an unexposed control group of 6,078 subjects without such exposures. Exposed and unexposed subjects were identified from the rosters of a local meatcutters' union in Baltimore, Maryland. In this application we propose to update mortality in the cohorts through the end of 2005, by which time it is estimated 65% of the cohort would have died compared to 20% at the end of the previous follow-up. Also, while only 60 causes of death were evaluated in the previous follow-up, in this application a total of 185 individual causes of death will be investigated. This many causes of death to our knowledge has not been previously investigated in any occupational group. The study has the potential of linking important chronic diseases in humans with occupational exposure to transmissible agents in food animals, and will provide the basis for future planned studies. Infectious disease is a NIOSH priority area.