Cause of death among jewelry workers

Abstract

A proportional mortality analysis of jewelry workers as identified on death certificates is presented. The study group consisted of 931 males who died in Attleboro, Mass., between 1956 and 1975. An excess proportion of pancreas cancer was found in the entire group (16/9; p < 0.05) and was not explained by ethnic or other non-occupational factors. Job titles were specific enough to identify a subset of polishers and findings for this job category were compared to those for all other categories. Excesses of stomach cancer (odds ratio 4.4; p < 0.01) and stomach ulcer (odds ratio 5.0, p < 0.01) were found, but for each the observed number of deaths is small. Possible important exposures in the jewelry industry are reviewed.