Cancer Mortality in a Cohort of Continuous Glass Filament Workers

Objective. To examine cancer mortality in continuous glass filament workers. Methods. A cohort of 936 continuous glass filament workers employed in a plant from northern Italy since January 1976 was followed-up through December 2003, for a total of 19,987 man-years. Results. Overall, 144 deaths were observed compared with 160.8 expected based on regional death rates (standardized mortality ratio [SMR] = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.76 to 1.05). There were 53 deaths from all cancers (SMR = 1.01, 95% CI = 0.75 to 1.32), and 21 from lung cancer (SMR = 1.23, 95% CI = 0.76 to 1.89). There was no consistent relation with risk for age at first employment, time since first or last employment, or duration of employment for any of the causes considered. Conclusions. Although limited in size, this study provides no evidence that continuous glass filament workers experience a significant increased risk of cancer, including respiratory cancer.