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Related Experiment Videos

Mortality among California highway workers.

N Maizlish1, J Beaumont, J Singleton

  • 1Occupational and Environmental Health Unit, University of California, Davis.

American Journal of Industrial Medicine
|January 1, 1988
PubMed
Summary

Highway workers face increased risks of certain cancers and accidents. This study highlights elevated mortality rates for digestive, skin, and lymphopoietic cancers, as well as motor vehicle accidents and suicide among these workers.

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Area of Science:

  • Occupational Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Highway maintenance involves exposure to numerous hazardous substances including solvents, herbicides, fumes, dusts, and vehicle exhaust.
  • Previous studies have suggested potential health risks for workers in this sector, but specific mortality patterns require detailed investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate standardized proportional mortality ratios (PMR) for a cohort of highway workers.
  • To identify specific causes of death that show statistically significant excesses or deficits in this occupational group.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 1,570 California Department of Transportation workers who separated between 1970-1983 and died within the same period was analyzed.
  • Underlying causes of death were obtained and compared to expected rates using standardized proportional mortality ratios (PMR).

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  • Analysis was stratified by race, sex, retirement status, and last job classification (highway maintenance, landscape maintenance).

    • Main Results:

    • White males showed significant excesses in cancers of digestive organs (PMR=128), skin (PMR=218), lymphopoietic cancer (PMR=157), benign neoplasms (PMR=343), motor vehicle accidents (PMR=141), and suicide (PMR=154).
    • White male retirees with 5+ years of service had elevated mortality from colon cancer (PMR=245), skin cancer (PMR=738), brain cancer (PMR=556), and specific lymphosarcomas (PMR=514).
    • Workers in landscape maintenance had elevated deaths from external causes (PMR=135) and liver cirrhosis (PMR=229), while highway maintenance workers showed excess emphysema (PMR=250) and motor vehicle accidents (PMR=196), but a deficit in circulatory diseases (PMR=83).

    Conclusions:

    • The study indicates elevated mortality risks for specific cancers, external causes, and certain diseases among highway maintenance workers, varying by job role and demographics.
    • Further epidemiologic and industrial hygiene research is necessary to confirm these findings and pinpoint occupational exposures.
    • Implementing precautionary measures to reduce known hazards in highway maintenance work is recommended.