2020

1. IDENTIFICATION & BASIC DESCRIPTION Cohort name   The Lead Workers Study Country   Australia Name   Malcolm Sim Institution   Monash University Email   Malcolm.Sim@monash.edu Personal website   https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/malcolm-sim Do you want to add another Principal Investigator of the Cohort   Add another Principal Investigator of the cohort Name   Geza Benke Institution   Monash University Email   Geza.Benke@monash.edu Personal website   https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/geza-benke Name   Ewan MacFarlane Institution   Monash University Email   Ewan.MacFarlane@monash.edu Personal website   https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/ewan-macfarlane Website   https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/coeh/research/lead-workers-study Name of committee   Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee Or provide website   https://www.monash.edu/medicine/sphpm/coeh/research/lead-workers-study Participation in pooled analyses   The cohort is potentially interested in participating in pooled analyses of (European) occupational cohort studies (note pooled analyses also includes remote decentralized analyses that would not require any transfer of primary data as well as meta-analyses). Main aim of cohort, please briefly describe the main objectives of the cohort   The Lead Workers study investigates cancer and mortality outcomes in a cohort of lead workers who were collected from an occupational monitoring program conducted in the 1980s and 1990s. Study design (please select as many as appropriate)   Retrospective cohort Source population (please select as many as appropriate)   Industry / occupation-based Comparators (please select as many as appropriate)   Internal study population Inclusion criteria   4,000 former employees working in scheduled lead occupations, and who underwent routine lead biomonitoring between the 1960s and 1990s Enrollment   Completed Age range at entry (subcohort)   Minimum Maximum Mean Please describe 18 65 35.9 Men at enrollment   4114 Men at last follow-up   4114 Comments   This was a retrospective cohort study involving workers who had worked in scheduled (targeted) lead occupations in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) and had participated in the state government medical surveillance programs, which were compulsory to workers in specific occupations. The surveillance program was specific to lead-exposed jobs (“scheduled” occupations) outside the primary lead industry (e.g., lead smelting). 2. OUTCOME FOLLOW-UP Type of data for outcome follow-up (please select as many as appropriate)   Death certificate Disease incidence records Death certificate (specify)   The list of lead workers obtained from the surveillance records was linked to death registries so as to identify cohort members who had died (including date and causes of death) prior to the date the linkage was undertaken. Disease incidence records (specify)   The list of lead workers obtained from the surveillance records was linked to cancer registries so as to identify cohort members who had a cancer diagnosis prior to the date the linkage was undertaken. First follow-up period (provide year)   5 years 3. OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES Source of exposure data collected (please select as many as appropriate)   Job-employment records Occupational history/time frame   Follow-up period Occupational coding performed   No Types of exposure measurements   Workplace sampling Methods for exposure assessment (please select as many as appropriate)   Expert assessment Main categories   Other (specify) Main categories | Other | Specify: Other   Lead exposure Comments   Sources of Lead Exposure All participants included in this study worked in jobs that were scheduled under state government health and safety regulations as being lead exposed jobs 14, 15. These included jobs with the following targeted occupational exposures: • dust or fumes of lead arising from the manufacture or handling of dry lead compounds; • manufacturing, assembling, handling or repairing of electric accumulators that involved the manipulation of dry lead compounds; • pasting or casting of lead; • breaking up or dismantling old, disused, or damaged lead accumulators and the sorting, packing, handling, or delivery of plates or other parts containing lead removed or recovered from such accumulators; • spraying with molten lead or alloys containing greater than 5% by weight of lead; recovery of lead from its ores, oxides, or other compounds by a thermal reduction process; • dry machine grinding, discing, buffing, or cutting by power tools containing greater than 5% lead by weight: and • machine sanding or buffing of surfaces coated with paint containing greater than 1% lead of dry weight. All workers in the Victorian and NSW programs had BLLs measured regularly in accordance with the regulations and it was the employers’ obligation to ensure workers were tested. Workers in high-exposure jobs or with previous high BLL results were subject to more frequent blood testing. Although testing was mandatory and the study cohort is comprised of workers who were tested by the state government monitoring programs, not all individual BLL test results survived in the archive records. 4. OUTCOMES EVALUATED Baseline - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)   Biomarker (specify) Death certificates Specify: Biomarker   Blood sample Follow-up - type of outcome data collected (select more than one if applicable)   Biomarker (specify) Death certificates Specify: Biomarker   Blood sample Outcome type (please select as many as appropriate)   Mortality Diagnostic groups based on ICD10   C + D Neoplasms C + D Neoplasms   Malignant neoplasms gastro intes. system including liver, gall bladder, pancreas Malignant neoplasm lung Malignant neoplasm of breast Malignant neoplasms of male genital organs Malignant neoplasm of urinary tract and kidney Malignant neoplasms of thyroid and other endocrine glands 5. BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES & ANALYSIS Biological samples collected   Blood 6. Other Information   Demographics Medical history Smoking Possibility for linkage to data registries/data enrichment via data linkage   Cancer incidence Mortality register