A mortality study of lead workers, 1926-1985.

In a case-control study of 867 deaths between 1926 and 1985 of men who had relatively high occupational lead exposure, compared with 1,206 who died during the same period, and whose lead exposure had been low or absent, there was a statistically significant excess of deaths from cerebrovascular disease between 1946 and 1965. There were also signs of a decreasing secular trend in the odds ratios for deaths from this cause between 1926 and 1985, with no difference between the two groups over the past 20 yr. There was no statistically significant excess in the number of deaths from malignant neoplasms, either in general or for specific sites. Previous evidence of an increased risk of death from cerebrovascular disease is therefore confirmed, but it would seem that with the introduction of stricter standards of lead control that this has now disappeared, as has any marginal risk of death from malignant disease.