| This data file set consists of one file generated for a cohort mortality study of 3,546 white male workers at the Pantex Plant in Texas by JF Acquavella, et al., published in Health Physics in 1985. |
| This cohort mortality study of white male Pantex Plant workers was conducted to determine if there was an association between employment at the facility and mortality from various causes. A subanalysis examined the association between mortality and exposure to external radiation. The published analysis focused on 3,564 white and presumed white males who were ever employed by the prime contractor operating the plant between the start of plant operations in 1951 and December 31, 1978, the study end date. The subanalysis focused on the 209 workers who were exposed to 1 rem or more through 1978. Total and cause-specific mortality was compared with expected mortality based on U.S. death rates. Significantly fewer deaths than expected from all causes of death, all cancers, digestive cancers, lung cancer, arteriosclerotic heart disease, and digestive diseases were observed. No causes of death occurred significantly more frequently than expected. Analyses of worker mortality by duration of employment, time since first employment, and cumulative radiation exposure greater than 1 rem produced similar results. No evidence was found that mortality from any cause of death was increased as a result of employment at the Pantex Plant. |
| The single analytic file, PXSMRA01_d1 (ANFILE), contains demographic and exposure data for 5,438 male and female workers employed either by the prime contractor or by one of several subcontractors from the beginning of plant operations through 1981. Exposure data in the file include exposure monitoring status and cumulative external radiation doses (in mrem) through 1980. The file includes demographic variables sex, education level, race, date of birth, and state of birth. |
| Vital status through 1978 was ascertained for 97% of the 3,564 white male Pantex workers included in the analysis. Death certificates were obtained for 96% (257) of the 269 known employee deaths. ICDA8 was used to code causes of death. |
| The Pantex Plant is a large facility that has been engaged in the assembly and disassembly of nuclear weapons since 1951. Sources of occupational exposures include external radiation, both gamma and neutron, from nuclear weapons components. Workers may also be exposed to x-rays while using industrial radiographic equipment. All exposure readings in the file are film badge measurements and were available only
for workers employed after 1963. |