Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2025
Vinyl Chloride and High-Fat Diet as a Model of Environment and Obesity Interaction
Published on: January 12, 2020
Historical Study of Workers Exposed to Styrene in the US Reinforced Plastics and Composite Industry: Findings From a
Natalie Suder Egnot1, Olivia Messina Leleck, Hannah Fairbanks
1From Stantec, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (N.S.E., O.M.L., H.F., G.M.M.); Benchmark Risk Group, Chicago, IL (R.R.); and Benchmark Risk Group, Houston, Texas (A.H.).
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate if workers exposed to styrene in reinforced plastics and composite facilities between 1948 and 1977 experienced elevated cancer mortality or mortality risk.
Methods:
We performed a mortality update of a 15,826-worker cohort followed from 1948 through 2019. We computed standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) comparing observed deaths to expected deaths based on US national- and state-level age-, race-, sex-, and time-specific mortality rates, and evaluated exposure-response trends.
Results:
Respiratory system cancer (SMR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.22-1.39) and lung cancer (SMR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.22-1.40) mortality was elevated in national-level comparisons. Bladder cancer (SMR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.11-1.83) and diabetes mellitus (SMR = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.27-1.64) mortality was elevated in state-level comparisons. Internal comparisons did not suggest any exposure-response trends.
Conclusions:
We identified no consistent evidence that occupational styrene exposure is associated with elevated cancer mortality risk in this cohort.
