Mortality experience of Vermont granite workers

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6774423

Davis, L K; Wegman, D H; Monson, R R; Froines, J

A comparison was made between the chief cause of death among 969 deceased white male granite workers in Vermont and the causes of death among other individuals not in that occupation. Tuberculosis deaths were ten times the number predicted, based on the U.S. white male experience. Of the 65 tuberculosis deaths, 48 were silicotuberculosis and 16 were pulmonary tuberculosis. A notable increase was found for deaths due to all respiratory diseases, with 28 deaths due to silicosis. Excluding deaths due to silicosis and tuberculosis left a small excess of emphysema-related deaths. For 25 men in the respiratory disease category whose cause of death was not listed as silicosis, ten had evidence of silicosis in their x-ray records suggesting some misdiagnoses may have occurred. An excess of lung cancer deaths was noted among sawyers and polishers, suggesting possible effects of abrasive exposures. No tuberculosis deaths were noted in men who started work in the post dust control period, after 1950. There was an excess of suicide deaths before 1970.

• Research Organization: Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (USA). School of Public Health
• OSTI ID: 6774423
• Report Number(s): PB-88-221973/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
552000 -- Public Health
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
AIR POLLUTION
BACTERIAL DISEASES
DISEASES
DUSTS
EMPHYSEMA
GRANITES
IGNEOUS ROCKS
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
MALES
MINERS
MORTALITY
NEOPLASMS
OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES
PERSONNEL
PLUTONIC ROCKS
PNEUMOCONIOSES
POLISHING
POLLUTION
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
ROCKS
SURFACE FINISHING
TUBERCULOSIS