Cancer mortality among French Atomic Energy Commission workers

Background All causes and cancer mortality of 58,320 workers employed at the Commissariat 6 l'Energie Atomique (CEA) between 1946 and 1994 were compared with that of the general population in a retrospective cohort study. Methods Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR) were computed with reference to the French national population. Results Between 1968 and 1994, 41809 deaths occurred. A healthy worker effect is observed for men (SMR = 0.57, CI90% = [0.56,-0.59]) and for women (SMR = 0. 72, CI90% = [0.67,0.77]). Nine sites of cancer death were found to be in statistically significant deficit among men, none among women. An excess of pleural cancers is observed among men (SMR=1.79, CI90% =[1.27;2.45]) and of malignant melanoma (SMR=1.50, CI90% =[1.04;2.11]). An excess of breast cancer is observed among women on the borderline of significance (SMR = 1.14, CI90% = [0.94;1.37]). Conclusions Excesses observed will have to be related to occupational exposures in the on-going cohort study on French nuclear workers which includes a retrospective exposures assessment.