A 50-year historical cohort mortality study of workers in a pharmaceutical plant

An historical cohort study was conducted of workers at a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. The cohort mortality experience of workers ever employed at the plant over the period from 1950 to 1999 was examined. The 1958 workers accumulated 44,294 person-years of experience at the plant, and a total of 384 deaths were identified. Our findings from external comparisons based on standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) in the cohort provide no evidence of excess mortality risk from all causes combined (SMR=0.75), all cancers combined (SMR=0.96), or from certain other individual causes of death. No patterns of excess mortality risk were apparent after stratifying on age and sex or job classification. The mortality experience of this cohort was generally more favorable than that of the general population.