Health Assessment Document for Diesel Emissions - NSCEP | US ...

1 well as concrete and asphalt workers. Occupational asbest9s exposure was also associated with
2 an elevated odds ratio of 2.6 (95% CI = 1.6, 3 .6) for :::: 1 year of employment and 3.6 (95% CI = ·
3 1.9, 7.2) for ::::20 years of employment. All the odds ratios were calculated by adjusting for age,
4 smoking, and municipality. After comparison with the live controls, the odds ratios were found
5 to be lower than those observed with dead controls. None of the odds ratios were statistically
6 significant in this comparison.
7 This study did not detect any excess risk of lung cancer for professional drivers, who,
8 among all the occupations listed, had the most potential for exposure tq motor vehicle exhaust.
9 However, it is not known whether these drivers were exposed exclusively to gasoline exhaust,
1 0 diesel exhaust, or varying degrees of both. An excess risk was detected for underground miners,
11 but it is not known if this was due to diesel emissions from engines or from radon daughters in
12 poorly ventilated mines. Although a high response rate (98%) was obtained by the postal
13 questionnaires, the use of surrogate respondents is known to lead to misclassification errors that
14 can bias the odds ratio to 1.
15
16 8.3.4. Lerchen et al. (1987): Lung Cancer and Occupation in New Mexico
17 This is a population-based case-control study conducted in New Mexico that examines
. 18 the association between occupation and occurrence of lung cancer in Hispanic and non-Hispanic
19 whites. Cases involved residents of New Mexico, 25 through 84 years of age and diagnosed
20 between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1982, with primary lung cancer, excluding
21 bronchioalveolar carcinoma. Cases were ascertained through the New Mexico Tumor Registry,
22 which is a member of the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the
23 National Cancer Institute. Controls were chosen by randomly selecting residential telephone
24 numbers and, for those over 65 years of age, from the Health Care Financing Administration's
25 roster of Medicare participants. They were frequency-matched to cases for sex, ethnicity, and
26 1 0-year age category with a ratio of 1.5 controls per case. The 506 cases (333 males and 173
27 females) and 771. controls (499 males and 272 females) were interviewed, with a nonresponse
28 . rate of 11% for cases. Next of kin provided interviews for 50% and 43% of male and female
29 cases, respectively. Among controls, only 2% of the interviews were provided by next of kin for
30 each sex. Data were collected by personal interviews conducted by bilingual interviewers in the
31 participants' homes. A lifetime occupational history and a self-reported history of exposure to
32 specific agents were obtained for each job held for at least 6 months since age 12. Questions
33 were asked about the title of the position, duties performed, location and nature of industry, and
34 tinie at each job title. A detailed smoking history was also obtained. The variables on
35 occupational exposures were coded according to the Standard Industrial Classification scheme by
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