Hodgkin's Disease in the U.S. Navy.

U.S. Naval personnel are involved in a wide variety of occupational specialities which may involve exposure to agents implicated in the development of Hodgkins disease. Other aspects of naval life-style foster the spread of infectious diseases and increase the need for frequent routine immunizations. These factors led us to hypothesize that there may be an increased risk of Hodgkins disease in naval personnel as compared to the U.S. population, and that the risk may vary by occupation. To explore these hypotheses we ascertained first hospitalization rates for Hodgkins disease among Active Duty naval personnel and compared them with incidence rates in the U.S. population. We found no significant differences in age-adjusted naval and U.S. population rates, although the rate in the Navy at ages 35 was 1.8 times the U.S. population rate. Navy machinist mates had double the rates of Hodgkins disease of the U.S. population, a statistically significant excess. Author