Document 3E899XMnzvD0QbyDgpJO4XKJ

Table 4 shows deaths which occurred at ages 15-64 among the 1* 137 men who were under the age of 65 when they entered the cohort. As in Tables 1 and 2, the main reason for confining the table to the age group 15-64 was that the few deaths eliminated tended to be among men who were quite old at the time the cohort was picked up. The mortality of older men actively at work appeared from this and from other studies to be quite unusual and their experience is difficult to compare with other populations from which an expected rate could be calculated. Table 4 shows that deaths went up with time, as one might expect in groups of men who are growing older. Deaths due to lung cancer started to appear in the period 1953-57 when they constituted about eight percent of the total deaths and in 1958-63 when they constituted 15 per cent. Deaths due to asbestosis were more uniformly distributed through out the follow-up period, as was the case in Table 2. An expected number of deaths has not been calculated here as it was in Tables 1 and 2, so that "asbestos lung cancer" is not shown. It is of help in evaluating Table 4, however, to know that for white males in the United States at ages comparable to those in the cohort studied here, the proportions of total deaths that would be expected to be due to lung cancer for the period 1948-52, 1953-57 and 1958-63 are 3. 2 %, 4. 1% and 5. 5% respectively. Thus, the proportions observed considerably exceed the proportions expected. Table 4 DEATHS AT AGES 15-64 IN A COHORT OF 1137 WHITE MALES WORKING IN ASBESTOS TEXTILE PLANTS IN 1938-41 PERIOD OF DEATH DEATHS DUE TO: TOTAL DEATHS LUNG CANCER ASBESTOSIS 1938-42 1943-47 1948-52 1953-57 1958-63 TOTAL 9 30 43 37 5.9 178 0 1 0 3 9 13 0 1 1 4 5 11 Oi 133 4406 56.