Pituitary adenomas in a cosmetics factory.

Abstract

We report three cases of acromegalic patients with growth hormone (GH) secreting pituitary adenomas (plasma GH values ranging from 100 to 185 ng/ml), diagnosed at the endocrinological unit of the Univer sity of Torino, who worked in a cosmetics factory in northern Italy. In all patients the diagnosis was confirmed after surgery by histological, immuno cytochemical, and ultrastructural analysis. The factory has been operating since 1958 and comprises a base chemicals and intermediates ware house, departments for compounding, packaging, and shipping finished products, and an analytical lab oratory. The factory produces cosmetics such as creams, perfumes, colours, powders, make up creams, soaps, shampoos, lotions, lacquers, permanent wave lotions, hair dyes, bleaches, and nail varnishes. In the compounding department base chemicals and intermediates are mixed; the finished products are piped into the automatic packaging lines in the pack aging department, where filling into the appropriate container is performed, followed by capping, label ling, bag closing, box forming, etc. In the lacquer packaging lines propellents are added into the pres surised aerosol containers by injecting them through the cap valve. In the past hand packaging was fre quent. Maintenance is performed by a maintenance staff and also by workers of the different departments. At present the factory employs 387 subjects (clerks: 76 men, 71 women; blue collar workers and technical staff members: 110 men, 130 women) but a larger workforce was employed in the past?for instance, in 1970 there were 890 employees (73, 99; 236, 482 respectively. Allowing for a 10% turnover of the workforce a year, it can be estimated that the person years of observation cumulated between 1958 and 1985 are 28 000 (2450, 3250; 7500, 14800 respec tively). Since we do not know the number of employ ees between 1958 and 1969, we assumed that the workforce was that of 1970 over the whole period, although we know that it had slowly increased from an initial 100 employees in 1958. The figure of 28000 person-years is likely, therefore, to be an over estimate. We have no age specific data but, due to the young age at employment of subjects, most of the person