Kartlegging av kreftrisiko og årsakspesifikk dødelighet blant ansatte i norsk offshorevirksomhet

Abstract

ENGLISH SUMMARYStrand LÅ. Cancer risk and cause-specific mortality among workers in the Norwegian offshoreoil industry. Nor J Epidemiol 2001; 11 (2): 137-142.The Cancer Registry of Norway has, in collaboration with the Norwegian oil industry association, started aproject investigating cancer risk and cause-specific mortality among workers in the Norwegian offshore oilindustry. The project started in 1996 by identifying the 61,300 present and former workers on the platformson the Norwegian continental shelf. The main contributors to the crew lists were oil companies, contractingcompanies, labour unions, safety training schools, and the national archives of Norway. In 1998 a selfadministeredquestionnaire was distributed by mail to the 57,000 workers alive and living in Norway. Thequestionnaire included questions on offshore job history, other occupations, leisure activities, and life-stylefactors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and nutrition.The study design of the project is a prospective cohort study, where cancer incidence and mortalityamong the exposed (the offshore workers) will be compared with the non-exposed (the general population).Factors known to cause cancer and other diseases in other industries are probably present in the offshorework environment. The offshore workers may also be exposed to harmful agents more or less specific forthe work on the platforms, such as crude oil, gas, and drilling mud. Intense work periods and long leaveperiods, a diet rich in fat and calories, cheap tobacco, a ban on alcohol consumption on the platform, andworry about helicopter flights and platform safety are also factors that may influence the workers' health.The overall response rate was 62%. The collected material will constitute a basis for research in thecoming decades. With regular intervals the cohort will be linked to the cancer database in the CancerRegistry and the Cause of Death Registry at Statistics Norway.Because they are a highly selected group, the offshore workers as a whole will probably be as healthy asthe general population, yet excesses in cancer incidence and certain causes of death among the most exposedworkers (i.e., maintenance workers, drilling personnel, welders, painters and cleaners) are expected.