We conducted a prospective study to clarify mortality patterns among Japanese coal miners in a former coal mining area. Subjects included 1,796 coal miners and 4,022 non-coal-miners, who were identified by a mail survey between 1987 and 1989, and then followed up from the date of the survey to April 30th, 1994. We applied Cox's proportional hazards model to compare the mortalities between coal miners and non-coal-miners. Among the coal miners, significantly high risk ratios were observed in all causes of death (risk ratio = 1.4, p < 0.05) and all malignant neoplasms (risk ratio = 1.5, p < 0.05). Risk ratios for all causes of death and all malignant neoplasms also rose with the length of experience in coal mining. Analysis of the results for sites of cancer showed that coal miners had high risk ratios for stomach cancer (risk ratio = 1.6), liver cancer (risk ratio = 1.4) and lung cancer (risk ratio = 1.6), though these ratios were not statistically significant. When the risk ratio for lung cancer was analyzed according to the length of experience in coal mining, coal miners with at least 15 years' experience had a significantly high risk ratio (risk ratio = 2.4, p < 0.05), though coal miners with less than 15 years' experience had almost the same risk as non-coal-miners.
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Abstract:The Relationship between the White Blood Cell Count and Cigarette Smoking among Japanese Males: Yoshito MOMOSE, et al. Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Fukuoka University-The cross-sectional data for 1,155 men aged 20-59 years obtained during annual health checkups in 1993 were used to study factors related to the WBC count. Current smokers have a WBC count averaging 10-15 percent higher than those of both ex-smokers and those who never smoked. The current number of cigarettes smoked per day and the Brinkman index were also positively related to the WBC count after adjusting for such risk factors as the BMI, diastolic blood pressure, and HDL-C level by means of a covariance analysis. We thus confirmed that an elevated WBC count is independently associated with the amount and duration of cigarette smoking among Japanese males. (J Occup Health 1997; 39: 280-284) Key words: White blood cell count, Cigarette smoking, Brinkman index, Male, Risk factorsThe white blood cell (WBC) count has been reported to be an independent predictor of both coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence and allcause mortality in white men' 4). Cigarette smoking produces substantial increases in the WBC count within the range of normal value1,2) .Age, body mass index (BMI), a low physical fitness level, systolic blood pressure, and low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) have also been found to be associated with a higher WBC counts-7).There has only been one published Japanese cohort study8 and the results are controversial concerning the "independence" of the WBC count regarding the CHD risk, relative to such risk factors as cigarette smoking. Using cross-sectional data for Japanese, Kondo et al.9) reported in 1993 that the WBC count was significantly higher in current smokers than in those individuals who never smoked, but they did not investigate the independent relationship of other risk factors to the WBC count. We therefore investigated the independent relationship between the WBC count and cigarette smoking among healthy Japanese male subjects. Other covariates examined included age, history of alcohol consumption, physical activity, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, total cholesterol (TC) and HDL-C. Materials and MethodsFor this cross-sectional analysis, the data obtained during an annual health checkup in 1993 were used. The study population consisted of 1,262 men working full-time in the Kyushu area and only 2% of the study population was lost to the followup. The health checkups were performed in the morning after overnight fasting. The Brinkman index was calculated on the basis of the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the number of years that the subject had smoked".For instance, if a man had smoked 20 cigarettes a day for 10 years, these two figures were multiplied together, giving a value of 200. As for alcohol consumption, they were asked about the number of years they had consumed alcohol and the amount consumed per day. Physical activity was assessed by a...
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