Objective The objective was to investigate the occurrence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) among cooks and other kitchen workers.

Methods Male and female cooks, cold buffet managers, kitchen assistants, and wait staff were identified in the Swedish National Census of 1970. The cohorts were followed from 1970 until 31 December 1995 and linked to the Cause of Death Register. The referent group comprised all gainfully employed men or women, respectively, identified in the same census. In a second approach, cohorts comprising cooks, cold buffet managers, kitchen assistants, and wait staff – who held the same occupation in both 1970 and 1980 according to the Swedish National Censuses of those years – were followed from 1980 until 31 December 1995. The referent group for these cohorts comprised all gainfully employed men and women (regardless of profession) who held the same occupation in 1970 and 1980 according to the censuses. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated as the ratio between observed and expected numbers of deaths.

Result An increased risk due to IHD mortality was observed among cooks, cold buffet managers, and kitchen assistants.

Conclusion This result indicates a possible relation between air pollutants in kitchen environments and IHD. However, the key message is that better dose estimates and confounding control is needed to study the possible relation between inhalation of these air pollutants and IHD.

Key terms air pollutant; cold buffet manager; cook; IHD; inflammation; ischemic heart disease; kitchen assistant; kitchen worker; wait staff