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To evaluate the mortality experience of workers at a major chemical manufacturing site and to examine brain and liver cancers excesses reported at this site in previous studies. This study included 9,730 employees at the Texas City location who worked between 1940 and 2001. Standardized mortality ratios and confidence intervals were calculated. There was less than expected deaths due to all cause mortality and no increase in all cancer mortality. Brain tumor mortality, which did exceed expected rates in past years, was at expected levels in recent years. Liver cancer mortality was greater than expected. Brain tumor mortality was either due to chance in the early years or the cause of the brain tumors has been eliminated. Mortality due to liver cancer is higher than expected but only among men hired before 1950. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and estimate total costs for chronic health conditions in the U.S. workforce for the Dow Chemical Company (Dow)., Methods: Using the Stanford Presenteeism Scale, information was collected from workers at five locations on work impairment and absenteeism based on self-reported "primary" chronic health conditions. Survey data were merged with employee demographics, medical and pharmaceutical claims, smoking status, biometric health risk factors, payroll records, and job type., Results: Almost 65% of respondents reported having one or more of the surveyed chronic conditions. The most common were allergies, arthritis/joint pain or stiffness, and back or neck disorders. The associated absenteeism by chronic condition ranged from 0.9 to 5.9 hours in a 4-week period, and on-the-job work impairment ranged from a 17.8% to 36.4% decrement in ability to function at work. The presence of a chronic condition was the most important determinant of the reported levels of work impairment and absence after adjusting for other factors (P < 0.000). The total cost of chronic conditions was estimated to be 10.7% of the total labor costs for Dow in the United States; 6.8% was attributable to work impairment alone., Conclusion: For all chronic conditions studied, the cost associated with performance based work loss or "presenteeism" greatly exceeded the combined costs of absenteeism and medical treatment combined.