Quantitated effects of carbon disulfide exposure, elevated blood pressure and aging on coronary mortality

Risk function analysis was performed in order to clarify the relationship between coronary heart disease death rate and occupational carbon disulfide exposure along with two other important risk factors, elevated diastolic blood pressure and older age, in a data set obtained from a 10-year prospective follow-up of coronary mortality in two cohorts of over 340 male industrial workers in Finland. The sole effect of carbon disulfide on the coronary mortality was statistically significant (relative risk = 2.3), and it was largely independent of the level of the other two risk factors. Log-linear models were fitted to predict coronary heart disease deaths. The analysis identified the dual role of raised blood pressure in the potential mechanism of coronary death. Relative risks ranging up to 48 were obtained for the joint non-synergistic effect of these three factors in the exposed group compared to a subgroup of nonexposed, 40-year-old normotensive men. The effect of carbon disulfide exposure on the risk of coronary death, while clearly distinguishable from the effect of hypertension and aging, stayed subordinate to them, but nevertheless remained an important risk element in the work environment.