The Lead Workers Study
Chief Investigators
Funding
NHMRC (cohort assembly and inaugural registry linkages)
Estimated completion date
This is an ongoing project with update linkages to cancer and death registries at periodic intervals (eg. five- to ten-year intervals, funding dependent).
Summary
This cohort study tracks the long-term health of approximately 4,000 former employees working in scheduled lead occupations, and who underwent routine lead biomonitoring between the 1960s and 1990s.
Lead is classified by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer as a “probable carcinogen” (category 2A) and lead exposure has been associated with a number of non-cancer health effects, including circulatory system conditions and cardiovascular mortality.
This cohort has been linked to the national cancer and death registries to estimate risks of cancers and causes of death in the cohort compared with the general population. The cohort is intended to be re-linked to the registries at periodic intervals (e.g. five-ten years).
Projected impact
This cohort study helps understand long-term health risks among lead-exposed workers.
Key findings to date
The first round of registry linkages found that 406 cohort members had died, which was statistically more than expected compared with the general population. In particular, deaths by non-cancer digestive system diseases and by external causes, such as injuries and accidents, were elevated compared to the general population.
Linkage to the cancer registry showed that overall cancer incidence was not elevated compared with the general population, although there were more liver and oesophagus cancers than expected.
However, the above findings were based on relatively small numbers of cases and future linkages will clarify if the associations seen in the first round of linkage remain over time.
Key outputs
Gwini S, MacFarlane E, Del Monaco A, McLean D, Pisaniello D, Benke G, Sim M. Cancer incidence, mortality, and blood lead levels among workers exposed to inorganic lead. Ann Epidemiol. 2012 Apr;22(4):270-6. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2012.01.003.
Sim M, MacFarlane E, Gwini S, Del Monaco A, McLean D, Pisaniello D & Benke G. (2014) 0364 cancer incidence and mortality in an Australian cohort of lead workers with historically collected blood lead data. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 71:A45.