UNT Health Sciences Center, Department of Epidemiology, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
Environ Int. 2011 Jul;37(5):950-9. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2011.03.014. Epub 2011 Apr 15.
We studied mortality in two separate cohorts of workers in abattoirs (N=4996) and meat processing plants (N=3642) belonging to a meatcutters' union, because they were exposed to viruses that cause cancer in food animals, and also to chemical carcinogens at work.
Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) were estimated for each cohort as a whole and in subgroups defined by race and sex, using the US general population mortality rates for comparison. Study subjects were followed up from January 1950 to December 2006, during which time over 60% of them died.
An excess of deaths from cancers of the base of the tongue, esophagus, lung, skin, bone and bladder, lymphoid leukemia, and benign tumors of the thyroid and other endocrine glands, and possibly Hodgkin's disease, was observed in abattoir and meat processing workers. Significantly lower SMRs were recorded for cancer of the thymus, mediastinum, pleura, etc., breast cancer, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
This study confirms the excess occurrence of cancer in workers in abattoirs and meat processing plants, butchers, and meatcutters, previously reported in this cohort and other similar cohorts worldwide. Large nested case-control studies are now needed to examine which specific occupational and non-occupational exposures are responsible for the excess. There is now sufficient evidence for steps to be taken to protect workers from carcinogenic exposures at the workplace. There are also serious implications for the general population which may also be exposed to some of these viruses.
我们研究了隶属于一个屠宰工人工会的两个独立屠宰场（n=4996）和肉类加工厂（n=3642）工人队列的死亡率，因为他们接触到了可导致食用动物致癌的病毒，以及工作场所中的化学致癌物。
采用美国一般人群死亡率作为对照，对每个队列整体以及按种族和性别定义的亚组计算标准化死亡率（SMR）和比例死亡率（PMR）。从 1950 年 1 月到 2006 年 12 月对研究对象进行随访，在此期间，超过 60%的人死亡。
在屠宰场和肉类加工厂工人中观察到舌底、食管、肺、皮肤、骨和膀胱癌症、淋巴样白血病、甲状腺和其他内分泌腺的良性肿瘤以及可能的霍奇金病死亡人数过多。胸腺瘤、纵隔、胸膜等癌症、乳腺癌和非霍奇金淋巴瘤的 SMR 明显较低。
这项研究证实了先前在本队列和世界其他类似队列中报告的屠宰场和肉类加工厂、屠夫和肉贩工人癌症发病率过高的情况。现在需要进行大型嵌套病例对照研究，以检查哪些特定的职业和非职业暴露是导致这种过度发生的原因。现在有充分的证据表明应采取措施保护工人免受工作场所致癌暴露的影响。这对可能接触到其中一些病毒的一般人群也有严重影响。
