Mortality of aircraft manufacturing workers in southern California.

A retrospective cohort mortality study was conducted among men and women employed for four or more years, between 1958 and 1982, at an aircraft manufacturing company in San Diego County. Specific causes of death under investigation included cancer of the brain and nervous system, malignant melanoma, and cancer of the testicle, which previous reports have suggested to be associated with work in aircraft manufacturing. Follow-up of the cohort of 14,067 subjects for a mean duration of 15.8 yr from the date of first employment resulted in successful tracing of 95% of the cohort and found 1,804 deaths through 1982. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated based on U. S. national mortality rates and separately based on San Diego County mortality rates. Mortality due to all causes was significantly low (SMR = 75), as was mortality due to all cancer (SMR = 84). There was no significant excess of cancer of the brain, malignant melanoma, cancer of the testicle, any other cancer site, or any other category of death. Additional analyses of cancer sites for which at least ten deaths were found and for which the SMR was at least 110 showed no increase in risk with increasing duration of work or in any specific calendar period. Although this study found no significant excesses in cause-specific mortality, excess risks cannot be ruled out for those diseases that have latency periods in excess of 20 to 30 yr, or for exposures that might be restricted to a small proportion of the cohort.