[New aspects of carcinogenic hazards in shoe industry (a retrospective epidemiological study)]

Epidemiologic study of occupational cancer covered a cohort of shoe production workers exposed to chloroprene. The cohort consists of 5058 examinees having length of service over 2 years and subjected to follow-up for 15 years. The total person-years equaled 75,000. The examinees demonstrated higher mortality with liver cancer, leukoses, pancreatic carcinoma, malignancies of central nervous system, renal cancer. The study first revealed unusual but significant risk of mortality with malignancies of mediastinum and heart (ICD-12 code is 164). The study defined a "dose-effect" correlation between exposure to chloroprene and death with liver cancer.