Styrene and ischemic heart disease mortality among synthetic rubber industry workers.

Abstract

We examined the relation between styrene and ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality among 16,579 men in the synthetic rubber industry. Associations were measured using stratified and multivariable analysis. Compared with workers with no exposure to styrene, men in the highest quintile of average intensity of exposure (5.50+ parts per million [ppm]) and in the highest quintile of cumulative exposure (60.67+ ppm-years) had IHD rate ratios of 1.14 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.96-1.35) and 1.07 (95% CI=0.90-1.27), respectively. Acute IHD was not associated with average intensity of exposure within the most recent 2 years or with other indices of exposure. Chronic IHD rates were elevated in subjects with the highest exposure; these associations were weak and imprecise, and evidence of a positive exposure-response relation was limited. This study does not indicate that exposure to styrene causes fatal IHD.