Mortality study of employees engaged in the manufacture and use of hydroquinone.

Mortality in a 1942-1990 cohort of 858 men and 21 women employed in the manufacture and use of hydroquinone was evaluated through 1991. Average exposure concentrations, 1949-1990, ranged from 0.1 to 6.0 mg/m3 for hydroquinone dust and from less than 0.1 to 0.3 for quinone vapor (estimated 8-h time-weighted averages). Compared with general population and occupational referents, there were statistically significant deficits in total mortality and deaths due to cancer. No significant excesses were observed for such hypothesized causes as kidney cancer [2 observed vs 1.3 expected (both control groups), P approximately 0.39], liver cancer (0 vs 0.8, 1.3), and leukemia (0 vs 2.3, 2.7). Dose-response analyses of selected causes of death, including renal carcinoma, demonstrated no statistically significant heterogeneities or linear trends according to estimated career hydroquinone exposure (mg/m3-years) or time from first exposure.