Health of workmen in the chromate-producing industry in Britain

In a follow-up study of 2715 men who had worked for at least one year at the three chromate-producing factories in Britain between 1948 and 1977 only 298 were lost to follow-up, and the average number of person-years in the study was 16.3. One hundred and sixteen deaths from lung cancer occurred in these men, with only 48.0 expected (O/E = 2.4; p less than 0.001). For men employed at the factory, which is still in operation, the relative risk of lung cancer has decreased from over 3.0 before plant modification to about 1.8 in those who have worked only since plant modification. A multivariate analysis was used in an attempt to unravel the overlapping influence of duration of employment, length of follow-up, plant modification, factory, age at entry to work, and estimated degree of chromate exposure. The major dependent factor appeared to be duration of employment; in addition the analysis suggested that modifications in the plant and work environment had been associated with an appreciable reduction of the excess risk from lung cancer.