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Organic brain damage and occupational solvent exposure

309 cases of organic dementia, cerebral atrophy or psycho-organic syndrome, admitted for 5 days or more to one of 18 Quebec hospitals, were individually matched to a psychiatric referent, admitted with some other diagnosis, and a general hospital referent. Lifetime occupational history was obtained by telephone. Occupational solvent exposure was assessed by (i) individual ratings blind to case status and (ii) a job-exposure matrix. Subjects working with moderate or high solvent concentrations for at least 10 years were considered exposed. With the psychiatric referent series an odds ratio of 1.44 (90% CI 1.03-2.01) was calculated for individual exposure ratings and 1.41 (90% CI 0.89-2.23) for the job matrix. The increased risk was found largely in those with diagnoses of both organic dementia or cerebral atrophy and an alcohol related condition. A similar pattern of risk was found with the general hospital referents. Adjustment for possible confounders did not appreciably alter the risk estimates.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.60012
Date January 1991
CreatorsCherry, Nicola
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Science (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001215727, proquestno: AAIMM67695, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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