Occupational groups potentially exposed to silica dust: a comparative analysis of cancer mortality and incidence based on the Nordic occupational mortality and cancer incidence registers.

We have analysed mortality and cancer incidence data available in census-based record-linkage studies from the Nordic countries for males in occupational groups with potential exposure to silica dust. The study showed an excess lung cancer risk for foundry workers in all the Nordic countries, and also for miners in Sweden. These results are consistent with the findings of previous in-depth epidemiological studies. The lung cancer risk did not differ significantly from that of the respective national populations for males working in glass, porcelain, ceramics and tile manufacture, in excavation, and in stone quarries, sand and gravel pits. Stone cutters, who are probably not exposed to known lung carcinogens at the workplace but in some places to high concentrations of silica dust, showed a significant excess lung cancer risk in both Finland and Denmark.