More than a decade ago, an increased risk for bladder cancer among male hairdressers was established. Frequent changes of hair dye formulations together with their widespread use call for safety guarantees. We carried out a follow-up study of a cohort of 38,866 female and 6,824 male hairdressers from Sweden and analyzed all of their malignancies over a period of 39 years. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for 28 cancer sites were calculated using the economically active population as a reference. During the years 1960 -1998 a total of 1,043 cancer cases were recorded in male hairdressers. Excess risks for cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract and lung and colorectal adenocarcinoma were observed. Additionally, male hairdressers working in 1960 had an increased risk for urinary bladder cancer, which was highest in the 1960s with an SIR of 2.56 (95% CI 1.36 -4.39) and decreased with the follow-up time. A total of 2,858 cancers were recorded in female hairdressers. An increased risk was observed for cancers of the pancreas, lung and cervix and in situ cancer of the skin. The increased risk for in situ skin cancer specifically affected the scalp and neck, sites of contact for hair dyes, with an SIR of 2.43 (95% CI 1.14 -4.44). The increase in lung cancer, the only site for which cancer was increased in either sex, may depend on confounding from smoking. Bladder cancer was not increased among hairdressers in the recent decades and is therefore not likely to be associated with modern hair dyes.

BackgroundWe analyzed temporal trends in the incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in Sweden by socioeconomic position and investigated whether social inequalities in incidence of these diseases changed over time.Materials and MethodsWe studied a cohort of almost three million Swedish residents born between 1932 and 1960 followed from 1987 until 2010. Incident cases of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke were identified in the Swedish National Inpatient Register and Cause of Death Register. Socioeconomic position was retrieved from the Population and Housing Censuses. Incidence rates of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke and incidence rate ratios comparing levels of socioeconomic position were estimated using flexible parametric survival models adjusted for calendar year, attained age, sex, and birth country.ResultsThe overall incidences of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke decreased over time among men, but were stable over time among women. With regard to ischemic stroke incidence, socioeconomic inequality increased over time in the age group 55 to 59: the incidence rate ratios for low manual compared to high non-manual increased from 1.3 (95% CI: 1.2–1.4) in 1997 to 1.5 (1.4–1.7) in 2010 among men, and from 1.4 (1.3–1.6) in 1997 to 2.1 (1.8–2.5) in 2010 among women. The socioeconomic inequality in incidence of myocardial infarction was stable over time for both men and women.ConclusionThere was a decrease in myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke incidence over time among men but no significant change for women. Our study highlights existing, and in some cases increasing, social inequalities in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases.

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ObjectivesThis study explored how adult social class and social mobility between parental and own adult social class is related to psychiatric disorder.Material and MethodsIn this prospective cohort study, over 1 million employed Swedes born in 1949-1959 were included. Information on parental class (1960) and own mid-life social class (1980 and 1990) was retrieved from the censuses and categorised as High Non-manual, Low Non-manual, High Manual, Low Manual and Self-employed. After identifying adult class, individuals were followed for psychiatric disorder by first admission of schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug dependency, affective psychosis and neurosis or personality disorder (N=24 659) from the Swedish Patient Register. We used Poisson regression analysis to estimate first admission rates of psychiatric disorder per 100 000 person-years and relative risks (RR) by adult social class (treated as a time-varying covariate). The RRs of psychiatric disorder among the Non-manual and Manual classes were also estimated by magnitude of social mobility.ResultsThe rate of psychiatric disorder was significantly higher among individuals belonging to the Low manual class as compared with the High Non-manual class. Compared to High Non-manual class, the risk for psychiatric disorder ranged from 2.07 (Low Manual class) to 1.38 (Low Non-manual class). Parental class had a minor impact on these estimates. Among the Non-manual and Manual classes, downward mobility was associated with increased risk and upward mobility with decreased risk of psychiatric disorder. In addition, downward mobility was inversely associated with the magnitude of social mobility, independent of parental class.ConclusionsIndependently of parental social class, the risk of psychiatric disorder increases with increased downward social mobility and decreases with increased upward mobility.

Cardiovascular mortality was clearly structured by adulthood class, but not as consistently structured by childhood class. The mediating role of education suggests that a major part of life-course disadvantages or advantages in relation to CVD was due to achieved education.