CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND CANCER MORTALITY IN AUSTRALIA, BY OCCUPATION, IN RELATION TO DRINKING, SMOKING AND EATING

Abstract

The evidence that alcoholic drinks, tobacco smoking, and aspects of diet contribute to various cardio vascular diseases and cancers is now substantial. Cause‐specific death rates have been calculated here for fourteen Australian male occupational groups, for 1968–76, at ages 30–64. Strong positive correlations occur between presumptive alcohol consumption (liver cirrhosis) and upper alimentary tract cancers and cerebrovascular disease (stroke); between tobacco (lung cancer) and upper alimentary tract cancers and ischaemic heart disease; between low socioeconomic status (SES) (for example labourers, miners, hotel workers, storemen and waterside workers) and stomach cancer; and between high SES status (for example doctors, administrators, executives and lawyers) and colon cancer. The aetiological significance of these findings is discussed.