Mortality among female industrial workers in Iceland

The aim was to describe the mortality pattern among unskilled female industrial workers with the hypothesis that they were disadvantaged compared to other women and that smoking-related causes of death were in excess among them.

The study group comprised 13349 women who had contributed at any time to a pension fund for unskilled industrial workers in Reykjavik during the time period 1970-1995. The follow-up was from 1975 to 1995. The death rate of the study group was compared to that of women in the general population during the time period 1981-1995. The study group was studied with regard to selected causes of death, by age at first entrance into the pension fund, different lag-time, and by employment-time.

Results showed an excess of external causes but a deficit of most other causes of death, among those smoking related diseases. The high mortality by external causes was consistent in all the analyses. Standardised mortality ratio (SMR) for external causes in the total group was 1.79 (95% CI 1.45-2.19), for lung cancer 1.04 (95% CI 0.80-1.34) and for ischemic heart disease 0.77 (95% CI 0.65-0.91). Mortality was highest among those who started to pay in the pension fund at younger ages.

The notable excess of external causes in the group needs further exploration. The results did not confirm the hypothesis that smoking-related causes of death were in excess in the group. Methodological problems related to studies on women workers are discussed.