Cancer mortality among workers at a satellite manufacturing facility.

Abstract

To assess risk of cancer overall and renal cancer in particular among workers at the Valley Forge satellite manufacturing complex. A cohort of 29,504 workers, employed between 1962 and 2008 at the complex, was studied. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated. Overall, 6583 workers had died by December 31, 2008. Standardized mortality ratios for all causes of death (0.70) and for all cancers (0.79) were reduced. Forty-three deaths from kidney cancer were observed, below the 67.2 expected (SMR = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.46-0.86). The only significantly elevated SMR was for brain cancer (SMR = 1.34; 95% CI = 1.08-1.63; n = 95). This study of 29,504 workers at the Valley Forge satellite complex over almost a 50-year span found no evidence of increased cancer mortality overall or from renal cancer, in particular. The unexpected finding for brain cancer warrants further investigation.