Background: The mortality pattern was determined in a cohort of 16,999 white and blue-collar workers in the Swedish hardmetal industry, particularly for cobalt exposure and lung cancer.
Methods: The mortality follow-up analysis in the Swedish Mortality register covered the period from 1952 to 2012. The exposure measures were ever/never exposed, duration of exposure, cumulative, and mean cobalt concentrations.
Results: The mortality of all causes was significantly increased, highly associated with the short-term employed workers. A negative exposure-response was found for lung cancer and duration of exposure. An exposure-response was determined for cumulative and mean cobalt exposures analyzed by quartiles, but not for exposure classes. Internal comparison analysis using proportional hazard showed no exposure-response.
Conclusions: The cohort lung cancer mortality showed no correlation to cobalt, nickel, or tungsten exposure.