Abstract
Background
Workers in poultry plants have high exposure to a variety of transmissible agents present in poultry and their products. Subjects in the general population are also exposed. It is not known whether many of these agents cause disease in humans. If they do, we reason this would be readily evident in a highly exposed group such as poultry workers. We report here on mortality from non-malignant diseases in a cohort of poultry workers.
Methods
Mortality was compared with that of the US general population, and with that of a comparison group from the same union. Risk was estimated by standardized mortality ratio, proportional mortality ratio, and directly standardized risk ratio.
Results
Poultry workers as a group had an overall excess of deaths from diabetes, anterior horn disease, and hypertensive disease, and a deficit of deaths from intracerebral hemorrhage. Deaths from zoonotic bacterial diseases, helminthiasis, myasthenia gravis, schizophrenia, other diseases of the spinal cord, diseases of the esophagus and peritonitis were non-significantly elevated overall by all analyses, and significantly so in particular race/sex subgroups.
Conclusions
Poultry workers may have excess occurrence of disease affecting several organs and systems, probably originating from widespread infection with a variety of microorganisms. The results for neurologic diseases could well represent important clues to the etiology of these diseases in humans. The small numbers of deaths involved in some cases limit interpretation.
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Acknowledgments
This update was funded by a grant 1 RO1 OH008071 from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health. Previous follow-ups were funded by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (intramural) and the National Cancer Institute 1 Ro1 CA 30410-3. Our appreciation and thanks go to the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union and the Baltimore Meatcutters’ Union Local 27 (formerly Local 117) for their continuous support and collaboration over the years without which this research would not have been possible. There are no competing interests.
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Johnson, E.S., Yau, L.C., Zhou, Y. et al. Mortality in the Baltimore union poultry cohort: non-malignant diseases. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 83, 543–552 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-009-0478-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-009-0478-6