Document jgMO4K44NoEeGOyn9JpeEGjMk

ST0I6I235 PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT Executive Summary of Mortality Among Female Employees of a Chemical Company Gregory G. Bond, PhD, MPH Elsie A. McLaren, RN Janice B. Cartmill, RN Karen T. Wymer, BS Thomas E. Lipps, MD Ralph R. Cook, MD, MPH The Dow Chemical Company September 8, 1987 STO161236 1- - Women are becoming an increasingly larger segment of the total workforce, yet there have been few health studies conducted on working women. This investigation compared the mortality experience of 10,839 present and former female employees of The Dow Chemical Company with comparable national, state, and local groups. Employees were observed to have consistently experienced lower mortality from all causes of death combined, and the numbers of deaths from cancer were at or below expected levels. Included for study were women with three or more days of service between 1940 and 1982 at the Midland or Bay City locations. The group consisted of substantial numbers of production and research personnel, but was predominantly comprised of clerical and office workers (80.5?). Employees were tracked through 1982 to determine whether they were alive or dead, and if dead, the parti cular cause. The observed numbers of deaths from each of the major disease categories were compared with expected values based on age-, race-, and era- specific mortality rates for female residents of the U.S., State of Michigan, and local seven county East-Central Michigan area. In addition to examining mortality in the total group of employees, analyses were done of various subgroups defined by job category, duration of employment, latency (interval since first employment), age and year of death, and age at and year of S T 0 I6 I2 3 7 2- - first employment. These additional analyses were done to help distinguish findings which might be indicative of an occupational influence on mortality from those due to random variation. Nearly 90 % of female employees were successfully tracked and determined to be alive or dead. Although this follow-up rate is somewhat lower than the figure which approaches 100 % in studies of male employees, it compares very favorably to the follow-up achieved in the few studies of female employees reported by others. Historically, many women married and adopted their husband's name after leaving work, thus making the tracking of women more difficult. Death certificates were obtained to ascertain the cause of death for 94 % of the 467 decedents. By comparison with U.S. females (Table), employees experienced 29 % fewer than expected deaths from all causes combined (467 observed vs 661.2 expected), and 11 % fewer cancer deaths (177 observed vs 199.3 expected). For no cause of death did employees experience a statistically signifi cant higher rate than the general population. These findings held true regardless of which of the three region-specific population groups was used for comparison. -3- Analyses of various subgroups of employees did not identify any with a different or unusual mortality experience. Hourly female employees did not differ materially from their salaried counterparts with respect to their death rate from all causes, or specific causes including cancer. It is anticipated that the experience of these employees will be updated at some future date; however, this research has not identified any areas of concern that would warrant more in-depth studies of female mortality at this t i me. STOI 6 I 238 Observed and Expected Deaths Among Female Chemical Company Employees; Midland/Bay City Michigan 1940-1982 STOI 61239 Cause of Death Observed * Expected All Causes Cancer Heart Disease Accidents Stroke Respiratory Diseases Cirrhosis of the Liver Suicide Diabetes Other 467 177 no 38 28 17 12 11 8 66 661.2 199.3 194.3 41.6 52.3 29.6 18.1 17.4 15.4 93.2 * Expected numbers of deaths based on the experience of U.S. white females adjusted for age, and era. DOW COMMUNICATIONS ROUTING SHEET FOR RELEASE OF INFORMATION In order to safeguard me interests of The Dow Chemical Company and its authors, all taVs. papers. puWcalicns. a'ticies. news releases, etc.. !cr release outsde the company must have proper approval. Technical Wor.-nation must be approved within Research and Development and olher material by Dow Communicatons. Dow Female Health Study Release SUBJECT SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS . PLEASE WALK OR SCOUT TO NEXT NAME ON ROUTING LIST. naTF 5/26/87 PREPARED BY Jeff Stevenson (name) 6-5786 (phone) NEWS RELEASE CONTACT PERSON (This person must be availa ble to handle media calls on release date.) Jeff Stevenson 6-5786 (phor.e) DISTRIBUTION PUBLICATIONS/TV: 0 DOW TODAY CENTERLINE 0 EMPLOYEE PUBLICATIONS SERVICE (EPS) COMMERCIAL DIALOGUE 0 DOW FRIENDS THE POINT IS . . . 0 DATELINE 0 OTHFRQNSTRKAM. Weekly Rot WIRES (INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL) 0 DOW GLOBAL NEWSWIRE (Internal Wire) 0 DOW PR NETWORK (Internal Wire) COMMERCIAL MGMT. & DOMs (U.S. oniy) 0 PRESS RELATIONS NEWSWIRE (External) EXTERNAL NEWS RELEASES 0 SAGINAW VALLEY MIDWEST BUREAUS TRADE (Attach trade publications list if appropriate) UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INSTRUCTIONS: Please read allached copy, revise as necessary, sign oil. and send to next person on routing list below: APPROVED BY Imlial and Date Greg Bo 1803 Ralph Cook, 1803 <Y/*fYJ_oe L__e_b_e_a_u_, _1_8_0_3 ^Ton Cipp,. 607 ? ' T^ S^C-7z_ DOW COMMUNICATIONS.NEWS & INFO. SERV.. (NSIS) MIDLAND. Please send an advance information copy to NilS at the start of the routing process. A1 Wolf, Vicky Suazo OTHER COMMUNICATIONS/PR CONTACTS Sue Dupree, Vince Smart LEGAL Jane Gootee TRADEMARK. PATENT. 6STiOli II 2 HOMETOWN PAPER (Include local be-in, parents' names /address, etc., as appropriate) luxQB&miaumBBissES RETURN TO: Jeff Stevenson, 47 (Can 6-5731 lor pickup) jrra,iTOjwvpgmm?agaw^ BY ASAP 0 OTHER Michigan Media Selected National Media I AUTHOR'S FINAL APPROVAL RELEASE DATE: June 8, 1987 DATE . TIME: For-- No "rO IC8F-F-6.6