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的癌症和其他慢性疾病风险的主要方法。在检测石棉、苯、苯胺染料等物质对工人的致癌作用方面已被证明是有效和可靠的。它们也是证明这些物质对人类具有致癌性的流行病学证据的主要来源。它们导致采取了管制行动，大大减少了工作场所的这种有害接触，从而成功地保护了工人的健康。然而，尽管在不同的职业和工业群体中进行了大量这样的研究，但在美国，对肉类工业的工人却没有给予太多的关注，因为他们高度暴露于已知的传染性病原体中，这些病原体是他们在工作中处理的动物中癌症、神经系统疾病（如“疯牛病”）和其他严重传染病的有力原因。除了在本研究中聚集的队列外，据我们所知，这一职业群体之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年期间在屠宰场、肉类加工厂和超市工作的18,426名受试者（因处理牛、猪和羊或其产品而暴露于这些传染性病原体）和未暴露的6,078名对照组受试者的死亡率（癌症和非癌症）。暴露和未暴露的受试者是从马里兰州巴尔的摩市当地一个肉食者工会的名册中确定的。在这个应用程序中，我们建议更新到2005年底的队列死亡率，到那时，估计65%的队列将死亡，而在之前的随访结束时为20%。此外，虽然在以前的随访中仅评估了60种死亡原因，但在本次应用中，将调查总共185种个人死亡原因。据我们所知，如此多的死亡原因以前从未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职业暴露于食用动物中的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.