Document 9JM9L28OkR38yZvG3GKMx7wE5

Interim Report 2 (August 1,1995) Update of Mortality Among Vinyl Chloride Workers I. Data Acquisition Applied Epidemiology, Inc. received 12 additional boxes from ENSR in July. Because no inventory list accompanied any ofthe boxes, we examined the contents of all boxes, consolidated and transferred records to new boxes, created a general inventory of contents, and moved the boxes to our storage facility. A copy of the inventory of the boxes we are currently storing is attached, although additional sorting of the contents of some ofthe boxes will be necessary. Four of the 12 boxes contained data from unrelated studies, including twelve computer tapes. These will be shipped back to ENSR in the near future. To date, four data tapes possibly related to the present study have been received by Applied Epidemiology, Inc. These tapes will be reviewed to verify the contents as they were described in a letter from Gordon and Associates to Dr. Whorton. One box of death certificates has been received from ENSR as of the date of this report. The death certificates appear to be those collected by Tabershaw and Gaffey prior to the first update. Once we obtain electronic information adequate to reconstruct the study cohort, we will note in the computer file that we have copies of these death certificates, and remove these individuals from the NDI and other searches. If no additional death certificates are located, we will need to expand our search efforts and possibly repeat the search on those deceased during the previous update. After obtaining the master data file(s), we will assess the situation we will draft an addendum to the existing contract to cover this unanticipated loss of information. II. State Confidentiality Agreements Applied Epidemiology, Inc., has completed confidentiality agreement forms for several states, either sent directly to us by the states or via CMA. III. Protocol Development and Review A detailed protocol for the study was drafted according to the CMA Guidelines for Good Epidemiology Practices, and reviewed by our expert reviewers, Drs. Harvey Checkoway and BFG 01450 Interim Report 2 (August 1,1995), p. 2 Kathy Hammond. Comments were incorporated into a revised version of the protocol, which is submitted with this interim report. IV. Development of Rate-Weighting Program Applied Epidemiology, Inc., in conjunction with SoftWhere, Inc., has developing a rate-weighting computer program called ProRate. At this stage we are capturing national rates from vital status records (books) for the earliest study years, and have purchased the Compressed Mortality Files (CMF) from the National Center for Health Statistics (cause-specific mortality rates from 1968 through 1993). V. Creation of the Study Database and Verification of Results from the Wong Report Although verification of the results obtained by Wong, et al. was scheduled to be completed as of this date, the data transfer from the previous contractor has been delayed three months so far. Provided that the data become available within the next two weeks, construction ofthe database and verification of the previous results should be completed by the next scheduled interim report. BFG 01451 Update on inventory of boxes received from ENSR August 1, 1995 An additional 12 boxes were received from ENSR on July 24, 1995: 1. Four data tapes related to VC study - UNICAR, VINYL 1, NDI84, EHASSA 2. Vinyl chloride worker study subject file folders - needs to be sorted 3. Medical record summary worksheets - out of order 4. Medical record summary worksheets - from Johnson, Melvin to Woodward, John 5. Miscellaneous tables and files from early VC study - needs to be sorted 6. Miscellaneous file folders related to plants in the study 7. Miscellaneous reports and proposals - needs to be sorted (some related to VC study) 8. Codebooks re: phase I & n, plants 1-3, 25-36, miscellaneous manuscripts Not related to VC study: 9. Employee records, other study 10. Employee records, other study, Illinois 11. Employee records, other study, New Jersey 12. Twelve data tapes not related to VC study Also received duplicates of four data tapes (see item #1) via Federal Express on July 28, 1995. BFG 01452