You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 115 No. 4, April 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  EPIDEMIOLOGY AND BIOSTATISTICS
 This Article
 •References
 •Full text PDF
 • Reply to article
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Social Bookmarking
  Add to CiteULike Add to Connotea Add to Del.icio.us Add to Digg Add to Reddit Add to Technorati Add to Twitter What's this?

Epidemiologic Study of Time and Space Clustering of 4 Cases of Choroidal Malignant Melanoma

James P. Ganley, MD, DrPH; Kerwin Fontenot, MD

Arch Ophthalmol. 1997;115(4):537-541.


Abstract

Objective
To identify common risk factors that might be associated with a cluster of 4 cases of choroidal malignant melanoma that occurred in a manufacturing plant between 1982 and 1985.

Design
Survey of choroidal malignant melanoma cases in Caddo and Bossier parishes during the same time frame.

Methods
We identified 4 additional individuals with choroidal malignant melanoma first diagnosed during the study period. Characteristics of the workplace were examined and a questionnaire was administered to all subjects to ascertain exposures to putative carcinogens and to putative risk factors for intraocular malignant melanoma. Observed and expected incidence rates were calculated.

Results
The overall incidence of intraocular malignant melanoma for the 2 parishes during the 4-year period was 0.56 cases per 100 000 population per year, similar to the expected rates for this population. The incidence rate for the manufacturing plant employees was 16.5 cases per 100 000 per year. The mean age at diagnosis for workers at the plant was 38.7 years compared with 69.2 years for nonplant employees.

Conclusions
The close occurrence of manufacturing plant cases in time and space and the younger age of the people are consistent with a cluster of intraocular melanoma cases. No specific risk factors were found in the workplace environment to impute a causal association.



Author Affiliations

From the Department of Ophthalmology, Louisiana State University Medical Center—Shreveport.



Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter     What's this?





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1997 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.