Women in the formaldehyde industry: their exposures and their jobs

Several studies have examined disease risks for women separately from risks for men, but few have examined exposure differences. This report used data from an epidemiological study of formaldehyde workers to compare formaldehyde exposures between men and women. Exposures were estimated from historical monitoring results, walk-through workplace surveys, interviews with long-term workers, and reviews of historical records. The mean of the exposures in the first job, the last job, and the highest exposed job were calculated by gender. Differences were found when all subjects were included in the analysis (men having higher exposures, on average, than women), but when nonexposed subjects were removed (40% of women, 6% of men), differences were minor. There was a substantial difference in the estimated peak exposure between men and women that decreased, but remained, when only exposed subjects were included. Evaluation of exposures in 1940 to 1945, 1965, and 1979 found that women had a higher average exposure than men in 1940 to 1945, but this pattern was reversed in 1965. By 1979, the average difference between the two genders had disappeared. A comparison of cumulative exposure found that exposed women had half the total exposure of exposed men. More men than women were exposed to other chemicals. Women tended to predominate in clerical, laboratory, assembly, finishing, inspecting, packing, and shipping jobs.