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Lung cancer mortality in a cohort of workers in a petrochemical plant: occupational or residential risk?
Full text linkGela area is an Italian polluted site qualifying for remediation because of widespread contamination from a petrochemical complex. This study investigates mortality and morbidity of the cohort of employees in Gela petrochemical plant with the aim of disentangling the health effect of work and residence. Work experience was classified in terms of job title, while an ad hoc mobility model was applied to define qualitative categories of residence in Gela as probable residents and probable commuters. Mortality rate ratio for lung cancer was 1.60 (90% CI 1.01-2.53) in workers probable resindents compared to probable commuters. For the same comparison, Hospital Discharge Prevalence Ratio for COPD was 1.39 (0.94-2.07). The crude categories of work and residence limits the interpretation of the causal nature of the study results. Despite several limitations, the results for respiratory pathologies are compatible with an etiological role of the documented contamination.The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of environmental (non occupational) exposures in lung cancer risk among petrochemical workers at a large petrochemical plant built on the Sicilian coast in the immediate vicinity of the town of Gela, Italy in 1960. The cohort included workers employed in the Gela petrochemical plant in 1960-1993. We looked at mortality rates for the period 1960-2002. An internal comparison was performed between two categories of workers with different likelihood of residence in Gela during the period of employment. The rate ratio of mortality from lung cancer comparing "probable residents" with "possible non residents," adjusted for age, calendar period, andjob classification (only blue collar, only white collar and both), was 1.66 (90% Confidence Interval 1.07-2.58). Although the information collected is quite sparse and no inferences can be made about risk sources, the results show a possible excess of residential/environmental risk from lung cancer mortality for those workers more likely to have been residents in Gela
[Deprivation indices in small-area studies of environment and health in Italy].
Full text linkThe use of deprivation indices in small-area studies of environment and health is described, with particular reference to the Italian context. Deprivation indices can represent a proxy for individual deprivation and/or contextual deprivation. In Italy, deprivation indices have been constructed using Census variables. They are applied at census tract level in studies with a local basis; in national based studies, they can be used at municipality level. In SENTIERI Project (Mortality study of residents in Italian polluted sites) an ad hoc deprivation index at municipal level was used (DI SENTIERI). Its strength and weaknesses are discussed. In addition, suggestions about the use of socioeconomic indices in small area studies of environment
and health are given
Residenza in prossimità di industrie petrolchimiche: componente ambientale e occupazionale del rischio cancerogeno
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Promoting environmental justice in contaminated areas by combining environmental public health and community theatre practices
No full textCommunities affected by contaminated sites are often overburdened by environmental and social
fragilities living a depression in their potentialities and destabilisation in health and quality of
life. The paradigm of Environmental Justice and the framework of community capacity (com-
munity capacities) are at stake in promoting environmental public health in communities affected
by contaminated sites. Three community changes foreseeing the following objectives appear as
priorities: centralisation in decisions regarding the use of their territories; an active (i.e. partic-
ipated) role in decision-making processes; a view of a possible future without contamination.
These transitions require the activation of technical, scientific, and cultural domains. While
environmental public health research, especially if implemented through a community partici-
pative approach, has a central role in promoting the community capacity of ‘knowledge’, per-
forming arts have great potential for empowering the other capacities. Different collective
theatrical approaches are reviewed and analysed in the cultural domain, identifying those of
community theatre as the practices with the greatest participative and transformative impact. A
community-based approach for promoting environmental justice in contaminated sites requires
the development of interventions integrating technical-scientific with cultural domains
[Study of occupational and residential risks in workers of the Gela petrochemical plant].
No full textOBJECTIVE:
To study mortality of male workers employed in the petrochemical plant located in Gela, Sicily, Italy.
DESIGN:
A cohort of 6458 workers employed in the period 1960-1993 was enumerated from company payrolls, follow-up was between November 1, 1960 and December 31, 2002. Ascertainment of vital status was completed through Registrar's office at the place of residence/birth and linkage to the Internal Revenue Service database. Causes of death were retrieved from Registrar's office at the place of death and the National Death Index and coded using the ICD Revision at the time of death. The cause specific expected mortality was computed relative to Sicily Region, specific for gender, 5-year age groups and calendar year.
SETTING:
Petrochemical plant in Gela, Italy.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Cause specific Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) and 90% confidence interval (CI).
RESULTS:
Observed mortality was below expected for all causes (662 cases, SMR 0.70 90% CI 0.66-0.74) and all malignant tumours (210 cases, SMR 0.71 90% CI 0.63-0.79). For the cancer sites of a priori interest in the petrochemical industry (skin, lymphatyic and hematopoietic tissues, lung, bladder, kidney liver, brain, pleura) the lower confidence interval of the SMR is never upper than unity.
CONCLUSIONS:
In the cohort the Healthy Worker Effect, the lack of information on exposure and the high percentage of missing causes of deaths (7.6%) can result in an underestimation of mortality specifically for rare diseases as the ones of a priori interest. Information and classification of exposure over time are envisaged developments to better describe the mortality pattern of the Gela cohort
LO STUDIO DELLA COMPONENTE OCCUPAZIONALE E RESIDENZIALE NELLA COORTE DEI LAVORATORI DEL PETROLCHIMICO DI GELA.
No full text[Mortality in the cohort of workers of the petrochemical plant in Gela (Sicily) 1960-2002].
No full textHealth effects of environmental exposure to fluoro-edenite amphibolic fibres from Biancavilla: epidemiological, clinical and toxicological aspects
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