SINONASAL CANCER MORTALITY AMONG SWISS FURNITURE WORKERS

  • 28 March 1987
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 117  (13) , 481-486
Abstract
Sinonasal cancers, although quite rate, have been shown to occur with greatly increased frequency among furniture workers. In the first epidemiological study of this problem in Switzerland, we use information drawn from the mortality statistics for the years 1979-1982 and from the 1980 national census to calculate the relative risk of mortality from sinonasal cancers among male Swiss furniture workers, aged 15-79, via both the odds ratio (OR) and the standardized mortality ratio (SMR). We verified the comparability of the occupation "furniture workers" on a random sample of death certificates and matched census records. There was an excellent concordance of 72%. The diagnosis "malignant neoplasms of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses" is also highly reliable on Swiss death certificates. In this 4-year peirod we observed 9 cases aong the 41,667 furniture workers and 59 among the 1,813,798 male workers in the general population. Our SMR indicates a 6.6-fold relative risk for death due to cancers among Swiss furniture workers (p < 0.0001; 95% confidence interval 3.0-11.6). When differential histological classification (obtained from regional cancer registers) is taken into consideration, we note an OR of 230 for death from adenocarcinoma. These results are in agreement with figures published by researchers elsewhere. Because of the long latency period, it is important to include populations over 65 in studies such as this, in order to avoid case selection bias. On the other hand, those over 80 had to be excluded form our study because of poor reliability of occupation on the death certificate. We conclude that cancers of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses in furniture workers are among the most clearly-defined occupational cancers in Switzerland. This finding has important consequences, not only for Swiss furniture workers, but also for practising physicans and the social insurance schemes.

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