The 1916 painters and the 1948 electricians who resided in the Canton of Geneva at the time of the 1970 census were identified and followed up to 1984. During the study period 121 disability pensions were awarded to painters and 59 to electricians. Age standardised incidence of disability per 1000 man-years at risk was higher among painters than among electricians for all neuropsychiatric causes (1.23/1000 and 0.68/1000, respectively) and for all other causes (5.50/1000 and 3.41/1000, respectively). No case of
presenile dementia was diagnosed among painters. There was inadequate evidence to indicate that the higher risk of neuropsychiatric disability for painters might have been due to their occupational exposure to organic
solvents. A possible toxic effect of these substances on the central nervous system was confounded with
alcoholism which was associated with disability from neuropsychiatric disease in 12 of 20 painters and in only one of 10 electricians. Mortality and incidence of
cancer were assessed among both cohorts and compared with the expected figures calculated from Geneva rates. Among painters there was a significant increase in overall mortality (O = 254, E = 218.5), in mortality from all
cancers (O = 96, E = 75.4), and in incidence from all
cancers (O = 159, E = 132.0). For the specific
cancer sites, there was a significant excess risk for
lung cancer (mortality: O = 40, E = 23.0), which was possibly related to occupational exposure to
asbestos and to
zinc chromate, although cigarette smoking was not controlled. The significant excesses of
biliary tract cancer and of
bladder cancer were in accordance with previous observations among painters from other countries. There was also a significant increase in incidence from
testicular cancer (O=5, E=1.6), which has not been reported before. For causes of death other than
cancer the excesses for
alcoholism (O=5, E=0.8). for
liver cirrhosis (O=14, E=8.8), for motor vehicle accidents (O=12, E=5.9), and for
cerebrovascular disease when allowing for ten years of latency (O=8, E=4.0), were consistent with a probable increased risk of
alcohol abuse. Among electricians overall mortality was similar to that expected (O=137, E=139.0). No significant excess risk was found for all
cancers or for any specific
cancer site. Because of the small number of expected deaths the statistical power was low for the assessment of a possible risk for leukaemia or for brain tumour.