Women in the public sector: cancer mortality

Very few mortality occupational studies of female workers have been published, even though the number of women in the workforce has increased dramatically to reach more than 45%. Public sector employees comprise 12% of the female workforce. This article reports the findings of a retrospective cohort mortality study of 1371 full-time female employees of the city of Buffalo, New York, who were employed between January 1, 1950, and October 1, 1979, and have worked a minimum of 5 years. The majority of women were hired in the 1940s and early 1950s and began employment after age 30. This predominantly white-collar, service-oriented female cohort demonstrated significantly lower all-cause mortality than that expected based on US mortality rates for white females. The highest observed numbers of cancer deaths were for breast, digestive, and respiratory cancers. The majority of person-years were accrued in clerical and service occupations. Higher-than-expected mortality was shown for reproductive and respiratory cancers among professional employees; digestive cancers, diseases of the nervous system, and pneumonia among clerical workers; and cancers of the lung and brain and diseases of the digestive system, especially ulcers, among service employees. Because these results are based on few observed cases, they must be interpreted cautiously.