Occupational Mortality Matrix: A Tool for Epidemiological Assessment of Work-Related Risk Based on Current Data Sources

Stefania Massari, Vittoria Carolina Malpassuti, Alessandra Binazzi, Lorena Paris, Claudio Gariazzo and Alessandro Marinaccio
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Stefania Massari: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy
Vittoria Carolina Malpassuti: Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Rome La Sapienza, 00161 Rome, Italy
Alessandra Binazzi: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy
Lorena Paris: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy
Claudio Gariazzo: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Marinaccio: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Mortality from occupational diseases significantly afflicts society, in terms of both economic costs and human suffering. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that 2.4 million workers die from work-related diseases every year. In Europe, around 80,000 workers die from cancer attributed to occupational exposure to carcinogens. This study developed the Occupational Mortality Matrix (OMM) aimed to identify significant associations between causes of death and occupational sectors through an individual record linkage between mortality data and the administrative archive of occupational histories. The study population consisted of 6,433,492 deceased subjects in Italy (in the period 2005–2015), of which 2,723,152 records of work histories were retrieved (42%). The proportional mortality ratio (PMR) was estimated to investigate the excess of mortality for specific causes associated with occupational sectors. Higher PMRs were reported for traditionally risky occupations such as shipbuilding for mesothelioma cases (PMR: 8.15; 95% CI: 7.28–9.13) and leather production for sino-nasal cancer (PMR: 5.04; 95% CI: 3.54–7.19), as well as for unexpected risks such as male breast cancer in the pharmaceutical industry (PMR: 2.56; 95% CI: 1.33–4.93) and brain cancer in railways (PMR: 1.43; 95% CI: 1.24–1.66). The OMM proved to be a valid tool for research studies to generate hypotheses about the occupational etiology of diseases, and to monitor and support priority actions for risk reduction in workplaces.

Keywords: causes of death; occupational risk factor; routinely collected health data; proportional mortality ratios (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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