OBJECTIVE: To assess risk of cancer overall and renal cancer in particular among workers at the Valley Forge satellite manufacturing complex.METHODS: A cohort of 29,504 workers, employed between 1962 and 2008 at the complex, was studied. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated.RESULTS: Overall, 6583 workers had died by December 31, 2008. Standardized mortality ratios for all causes of death (0.70) and for all cancers (0.79) were reduced. Forty-three deaths from kidney cancer were observed, below the 67.2 expected (SMR = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.46-0.86). The only significantly elevated SMR was for brain cancer (SMR = 1.34; 95% CI = 1.08-1.63; n = 95).CONCLUSIONS: This study of 29,504 workers at the Valley Forge satellite complex over almost a 50-year span found no evidence of increased cancer mortality overall or from renal cancer, in particular. The unexpected finding for brain cancer warrants further investigation.
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