Poisson regression analysis of the mortality among a cohort of World War II nuclear industry workers

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · Radiation Research; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/3577538· OSTI ID:6789578

Frome, E L; Cragle, D L; McLain, R W ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, TN (USA)

A historical cohort mortality study was conducted among 28,008 white male employees who had worked for at least 1 month in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, during World War II. The workers were employed at two plants that were producing enriched uranium and a research and development laboratory. Vital status was ascertained through 1980 for 98.1% of the cohort members and death certificates were obtained for 96.8% of the 11,671 decedents. A modified version of the traditional standardized mortality ratio (SMR) analysis was used to compare the cause-specific mortality experience of the World War II workers with the U.S. white male population. An SMR and a trend statistic were computed for each cause-of-death category for the 30-year interval from 1950 to 1980. The SMR for all causes was 1.11, and there was a significant upward trend of 0.74% per year. The excess mortality was primarily due to lung cancer and diseases of the respiratory system. Poisson regression methods were used to evaluate the influence of duration of employment, facility of employment, socioeconomic status, birth year, period of follow-up, and radiation exposure on cause-specific mortality. Maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters in a main-effects model were obtained to describe the joint effects of these six factors on cause-specific mortality of the World War II workers. We show that these multivariate regression techniques provide a useful extension of conventional SMR analysis and illustrate their effective use in a large occupational cohort study.

• OSTI ID: 6789578
• Journal Information: Radiation Research; (USA), Journal Name: Radiation Research; (USA) Vol. 123:2; ISSN 0033-7587; ISSN RAREA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560151 -- Radiation Effects on Animals-- Man
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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDES
BODY
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DISEASES
ELEMENTS
EQUATIONS
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
LUNGS
MATHEMATICS
METALS
MORTALITY
MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEOPLASMS
OAK RIDGE RESERVATION
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORGANS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
PERSONNEL
POISSON EQUATION
RADIATION HAZARDS
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM DISEASES
STATISTICS
URANIUM
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS