Suicide risk is associated with workplace uranium exposure

[Emily]

This could be a random cluster, but I noticed the sad news that 2 Sellafield nuclear workers committed suicide early last year by standing in front of trains:

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/cumbrian-man-s-train-track-suicide-weeks-before-wife-died-of-cancer-1.906904?referrerPath=news
54 yr old safety officer at Sellafield:

Cumbrian man's train track suicide weeks before wife died of cancer
By Staff Reporter
Last updated at 11:54, Thursday, 15 December 2011

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/cumbrian-father-of-two-killed-himself-on-train-line-1.906203?referrerPath=news
49 yr old fitter at Sellafield:

Cumbrian father-of-two killed himself on train line
By Caroline Ivison
Last updated at 11:54, Wednesday, 14 December 2011

I was wondering if suicide rates were higher among workers in the nuclear industry and this new study suggests that might be true:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=nuclear%20industry%20suicides&source=web&cd=15&ved=0CDoQFjAEOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theijoem.com%2Fijoem%2Findex.php%2Fijoem%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F113%2F209&ei=RdUCT-zAGIG0iQL4mqCLBg&usg=AFQjCNHYj-BtmNdYzR2tTPqsO1ZfsLa2YQ&cad=rja

The International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Vol 2 Number 4; October, 2011
Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant From 1952 to 2003: A Cohort Study
Correspondence to
Larry W. Figgs, PhD, MPH, REHS/RS, Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky,
121 Washington Ave,
Lexington, KY 40536-
0003, USA

Received: Sep 5, 2011
Accepted: Sep 11, 2011
Abstract
Background: Suicide is a problem worldwide and occupation is an important risk factor. In the last decade, 55 200 deaths in the US were attributed to occupational risk factors.
Objective: To determine if toxic metal exposure was associated with suicide risk among Paducah gaseous diffusion plant (PGDP) workers.
Methods: We assembled a cohort of 6 820 nuclear industry workers employed from 1952 to 2003. A job-specific exposure matrix (JEM) was used to determine metal exposure likelihood.
Uranium exposure was also assessed by urinalysis. All suicide/self-injury International Classification for Disease (ICD) codes were used to identify suicides. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR), odds ratios (OR), and hazard ratios (HR) were used to estimate suicide risk.
Results: PGDP suicide victims typically were younger white men. Within exposure likelihood categories, several suicide SMRs were typically elevated for several metals. Only beryllium exposure likelihood was associated with an increased HR. Uranium urine concentration was associated with an elevated suicide risk after stratification by urinalysis frequency.
Conclusion: Suicide risk is associated with uranium exposure.
Keywords: Toxic; environmental toxic substances; JEM; Exposure assessment; Uranium; Suicide; Atomic energy; Gaseous diffusion; Epidemiology; Proportional hazard

http://www.em.doe.gov/SiteInfo/paducah.aspx

Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
Site Overview
The Paducah site is located on 3,400-acres owned by the Department of Energy, and located in rural western Kentucky, 15 miles west of Paducah, Kentucky near the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Site Descriptions
For approximately 50 years, the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Portsmouth, Ohio and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky supported Federal Government and commercial nuclear power missions. These operations produced contaminated areas onsite and beyond site boundaries.

Presently, the sites are transitioning from primarily enrichment operations to shared missions with environmental cleanup, waste management, depleted uranium conversion, deactivation and decommissioning, re-industrialization, and long-term stewardship.