Occupational, socioeconomic factors and cancer mortality in participants of the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brazil): a multiple correspondence analysis.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the joint relationships between cancer mortality, occupational factors, and socioeconomic characteristics among Brazilian civil servants.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with data from 116 active workers at the baseline of the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brazil) (2008-2010), who died of malignant neoplasms over a 10-year follow-up period. Multiple Correspondence Analysis was used to graphically interpret the association between occupation, work stress, working hours, work regime, and socioeconomic factors with cancer mortality.

Results: The association between variable categories resulted in four groups and allowed us to identify two broad, distinct profiles of workers. The first was characterized as women, aged between 50 and 72 years, working hours of up to 40 hours a week, no exposure to night work, standard work schedule, low job strain, higher education or graduate degree level of education, active work, noncarcinogenic occupations, and death from non-work-related cancer. The second profile was characterized by men, elementary school and high school levels of education, aged between 35 and 49 years, passive work, high job strain, on-call work regime, exposure to night work, carcinogenic occupations, and death from work-related cancer.

Conclusion: Work-related cancer death was associated with worse socioeconomic conditions and occupational circumstances unfavorable to workers' health.