Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Dec 28;14(1):31105.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-82307-9.

Death and hospital contact in a cohort from Thyborøn-Harboøre an environmentally contaminated site in Denmark

Elsebeth Lynge  1 , Hans Holmsgaard  2 , Jørgen Bjerggaard Jensen  3   4 , Søren Lophaven  5
Affiliations

Death and hospital contact in a cohort from Thyborøn-Harboøre an environmentally contaminated site in Denmark

Elsebeth Lynge et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

We studied mortality and hospital contact in people from Thyborøn-Harboøre, an environmentally contaminated fishing community on the Danish West Coast. The population and a comparison group from other fishing communities on the Danish West Coast were identified from historical data in the Central Population Register. All persons were followed up for death and hospital contacts to March 2023. Event rates were compared with Poisson regression; adjusted rate ratios (aRR); and 95% confidence interval (CI). The old cohort included inhabitants in Thyborøn-Harboøre in 1968-1970 before pollution was controlled; 4914 persons/2485 deaths. All-cause mortality, aRR 1.06 (95% CI 1.01-1.11), and cancer mortality, aRR 1.17 (95% CI 1.05-1.30), were elevated; especially for kidney cancer aRR 1.82 (95% CI 1.07-3.12). Hospital contacts were elevated for psychiatric disorders; with an aRR of 4.07 (95% CI 1.41-11.72) for anxiety in men. As there is still considerable concern in the area about possible health consequences from stored chemicals, we included also a new cohort of newborn and immigrants to the area in 1990-2006; 2933 persons/302 deaths. All-cause mortality, aRR 1.26 (1.11-1.43) (men 1.15 and women 1.44), and cancer mortality, aRR 1.47 (95% CI 1.14-1.89) were elevated. Hospital contacts were elevated for ischemic heart disease/heart attack and indicated for autism/obsessive compulsory disorder in boys. In conclusion, mortality data confirmed incidence data of excess kidney cancer in the old cohort. The new cohort had a generally elevated mortality, possibly indicating selective immigration from other parts of Denmark. However, the new cohort is still relatively young, and the mortality pattern needs to be monitored.

Keywords: Cohort study; Environmental contamination; Hospital contact; Mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval, consent to participate and experimental protocol: The study was a retrospective cohort study. Data were retrieved from the Danish Central Population Register, the Danish Cause of Death Register, and the Danish National Patient Register. These databases are not publicly available, but the databases can be used for research projects considered beneficial for the society. The use of data and the experimental protocol were approved by Region Zealand with the registration number REG-108-2018. Region Zealand is the public authority in charge of Nykøbing Falster Hospital, where the study was undertaken. According to Danish legislation, approval by the relevant public authority serves as ethical approval of studies based entirely on register-data. No contact was made to patients, their relatives, and/or treating physicians. Informed consent was thus waived by Region Zealand. The experimental protocol followed standard guidelines for cohort studies. To ensure data safety, numbers below 5 were not reported. The study was funded by the Central Region of Denmark, 1-30-72-172-18. The funder had no impact on the design, analysis, interpretation and reporting of the findings.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Adjusted mortality rate ratio for persons living in Thyborøn-Harboøre compared with persons living in Holmsland-Hanstholm. Old cohort recruited 1968–1970; new cohort recruited 1990–2006. End of follow-up 1 March 2023.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Fazzo, L. et al. Hazardous waste and health impact: a systematic review of the scientific literature. Environ. Health. 16 (1), 107. 10.1186/s12940-017-0311-8 (2017). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vrijheid, M. Health effects of residence near hazardous waste landfill sites: a review of epidemiologic literature. Environ. Health Perspect.108 (Suppl 1), 101–112. 10.1289/ehp.00108s1101 (2000). - PMC - PubMed
    1. https://monographs.iarc.who.int/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono112-08.pdf [Accessed 27 March 2023].
    1. Ringkjøbing Amtskommune. [Total environmental approval of A/S Cheminova]. Ringkøbing: Teknisk forvaltning, Ringkjøbing Amtskommune. [In Danish] (1988).
    1. Riisgård, H. U. Mercury pollution in the waters around Harboøre Tange and Limfjord, Denmark. Mar. Pollut. Bull.15 (4), 129–133 (1984).

LinkOut - more resources