Biomedical subjects

A R Schnatter

Publications and source records attributed to A R Schnatter.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1983

A cohort mortality study of petrochemical workers.

A historical prospective cohort mortality study was conducted for a cohort of 6,588 white male employees of a Texas petrochemical plant because of a suspected increased incidence of malignant brain tumors. Mortality experience from 1941 to 1977 was determined and compared with that of the general U.S. white male population adjusting for age and time period. Overall and cause-specific standardized mortality ratios were calculated for various subgroups of the population defined by length of employment, latency and payroll status. Significant deficits in total cohort mortality were found for all causes of death, all circulatory diseases, all respiratory diseases and all digestive diseases. Although not statistically significant, fewer deaths were observed (O) than expected (E) for all malignant neoplasms. No statistically significant excess of malignant brain tumors was found in the overall plant population (O/E = 12/7.42 = 1.62). A borderline significant excess of brain cancer deaths was found among hourly employees with more than six months' employment based on 10 observed and five expected deaths. This excess was observed to occur among elderly employees (over 55 years) and in later follow-up years (post-1970). Risk did not appear to be related to length of employment. Because of the nature of the problem that prompted this study, the small number of cases involved and the lack of a suspect agent in the plant that could have produced this excess, insufficient evidence was found to conclude that these tumors were occupationally related.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1983

A case-control study of chemical exposures and brain tumors in petrochemical workers.

The relationship between chemical exposures and deaths attributable to primary brain tumors among employees of a Texas petrochemical plant was investigated. Cases consisted of 21 deaths in which the underlying cause was confirmed as a primary brain tumor. Two control groups of 80 employees each were randomly selected from 450 decedents known to the company in June, 1979. Potential exposures while employed were compared between cases and controls for five known or suspect carcinogens. Exposure potentials were also compared for an additional 37 chemicals to which at least four cases were potentially exposed. Overall and 15-year latency analyses were performed. The proportion of cases exposed to the five potentially carcinogenic chemicals (including vinyl chloride) were lower than or consistent with the proportion of exposed controls. No statistically significant differences between the proportions of cases and controls exposed to the 37 other chemicals were found.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An analysis of death ascertainment and follow-up through statistics Canada's Mortality Data Base system.

The Canadian Mortality Data Base (MDB) was utilized in mortality follow-up of 17,446 refinery and petrochemical workers throughout Canada. The performance of the system in detecting 757 previously known deaths was evaluated. Of the deaths submitted, 93.1% (90% confidence interval (CI) 91.5-94.5) were detected, including 97.6% (90% CI 96.5-98.4) of deaths which occurred in Canada. Detection was generally unaffected by age, year of death (1964-1973), and the presence of middle initial or the remainder of first name. Slightly lower ascertainment was found for deaths occurring in Quebec (94.5%) and Newfoundland (93.3%). This could be due to several factors, including fewer MDB records with complete identifier information for these provinces, or lower accuracy of linking fields for records supplied to the Agency. Few links were made to employees presumed to be alive, indicating 99.8% specificity for these records.

Aged↗