IARC MONOGRAPHS ON THE EVALUATION OF CARCINOGENIC ...

Table 10. Characteristics of cohort and nested case–cohort studies of incidence or mortality from neoplasms among
workers exposed to styrene
Reference
(country)
Frentzel-
Beyme et al.
(1978)
(Germany)
Ott et al.
(1980) (USA)
Hodgson &
Jones (1985)
(United
Kingdom)
Okun et al.
(1985)
(USA)
Type of plant; study period;
number of subjects; minimal
period employed; follow-up
Styrene and polystyrene
manufacture facility;
1931–76; 1960 subjects;
1 month; 93% among German,
29% among non-German
Dow Chemical workers in
development or production of
styrene-based products;
1940–75; 2904 men; 1 year;
97.0%
Production, polymerization
and processing of styrene;
1945–78; 622 men; 1 year;
99.7% among exposed, 94.4%
among referents
Reinforced plastics boat
building (two facilities);
1959–78; 5021 subjects;
1 day; 98.1%
No of
deaths/
cancer
deaths
Results
No. SMR/
SIR
95% CI Site
Comments (previous evaluation)
74/11 1 – – Lymphoma Lymphoma case was a malignant neoplasm of
the spleen (IARC, 1994a). Expected number
based on the statistics for the town of
Ludwigshafen during 1970–75 was 0.06. Two
pancreatic cancer deaths were observed, 0.7
expected, respectively; and three lung cancer
deaths, 5.7 expected.
303/58 12
21
34/10
(exposed)
5
3
0
4
176/36 16
0
1.6
1.6
[1.2]
[5.4]
–
[2.5]
1.4
0
0.84–2.8
1.0–2.5
[0.39–2.8]
[1.1–16]
–
[0.67–6.4]
[0.82–2.3]
[0–0.88]
L&H, mortality
L&H, incidence
Lung, mortality
Lymphomas, mortality
Leukaemias, mortality
L&H, incidence
Lung
L&H
Excess incidence of lymphatic leukaemia (SIR,
4.3; 95% CI, 1.7–8.8; 7 cases); highest risks in
workers exposed to styrene, ethylbenzene, other
fumes, solvents and colourants (IARC, 1994a)
Exposure to styrene among other chemicals
such as 1,3-butadiene, acrylonitrile, benzene,
dyestuff, and ethylene oxide (IARC, 1994a)
From L&H, 4.2 deaths expected in the whole
cohort, and about one death expected within the
group with high exposure to styrene (IARC,
1994a)
464
IARC MONOGRAPHS VOLUME 82