Abstract
Three parallel cohort studies of asbestos factory workers were undertaken to investigate the effects of mineral fibre type and industrial process on malignant mesothelioma, respiratory cancer, and asbestosis. This report describes the mortality of a cohort of 2543 men, defined as all those employed for at least a month from 1938 to 1958 in a textile plant in South Carolina in which chrysotile was the only type of asbestos used. Of these, 863 men (34%) had died before 31 December 1977, one from malignant mesothelioma. Twenty one deaths were ascribed to asbestosis and 66 to cancer of the lung. Compared with the number expected from South Carolina, there was an excess of 30 deaths from respiratory cancer (ICD 160-164) in men 20 or more years after first employment (SMR 199.5). In men employed five years or more, no SMRs for this category rose above 300. Individual exposures were estimated (in mpcf X years) from recorded environmental measurements. Life table analyses and "log-rank" (case-control) analyses both showed a steep linear exposure-response that was some 50-fold greater at similar accumulated dust exposures than in Canadian chrysotile mining and milling. These findings agree closely with those from another study in this plant and confirm that mesothelioma is rarely associated with chrysotile exposure. Cigarette smoking habits did not greatly differ between the textile workers and the Canadian miners and millers. The far greater risk of lung cancer in the textile industry, if not attributable to other identified cocarcinogens, may be related to major differences in the size distribution of fibres in the submicroscopic range which are not detected by the usual fibre or particle counting procedures.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Ayer H. E., Lynch J. R., Fanney J. H. A comparison of impinger and membrane filter techniques for evaluating air samples in asbestos plants. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1965 Dec 31;132(1):274–287. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1965.tb41108.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dement J. M., Harris R. L., Jr, Symons M. J., Shy C. Estimates of dose-response for respiratory cancer among chrysotile asbestos textile workers. Ann Occup Hyg. 1982;26(1-4):869–887. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gibbs G. W., LaChance M. Dust-fiber relationships in the Quebec chrysotile industry. Arch Environ Health. 1974 Feb;28(2):69–71. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1974.10666439. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gibbs G. W., Lachance M. Dust exposure in the chrysotile asbestos mines and mills of Quebec. Arch Environ Health. 1972 Mar;24(3):189–197. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hill I. D. Computing man years at risk. Br J Prev Soc Med. 1972 May;26(2):132–134. doi: 10.1136/jech.26.2.132. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- MANTEL N., HAENSZEL W. Statistical aspects of the analysis of data from retrospective studies of disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1959 Apr;22(4):719–748. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McDonald A. D., Fry J. S., Woolley A. J., McDonald J. C. Dust exposure and mortality in an American factory using chrysotile, amosite, and crocidolite in mainly textile manufacture. Br J Ind Med. 1983 Nov;40(4):368–374. doi: 10.1136/oem.40.4.368. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McDonald J. C., Gibbs G. W., Liddell F. D. Chrysotile fibre concentration and lung cancer mortality: a preliminary report. IARC Sci Publ. 1980;(30):811–817. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McDonald J. C., Liddell F. D., Gibbs G. W., Eyssen G. E., McDonald A. D. Dust exposure and mortality in chrysotile mining, 1910-75. Br J Ind Med. 1980 Feb;37(1):11–24. doi: 10.1136/oem.37.1.11. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McDonald J. C., Liddell F. D. Mortality in Canadian miners and millers exposed to chrysotile. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1979;330:1–9. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1979.tb18704.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McDonald J. C., McDonald A. D. Epidemiology of mesothelioma from estimated incidence. Prev Med. 1977 Sep;6(3):426–442. doi: 10.1016/0091-7435(77)90025-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Peto J. Lung cancer mortality in relation to measured dust levels in an asbestos textile factory. IARC Sci Publ. 1980;(30):829–836. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Peto R., Pike M. C. Conservatism of the approximation sigma (O-E)2-E in the logrank test for survival data or tumor incidence data. Biometrics. 1973 Sep;29(3):579–584. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- WAGNER J. C., SLEGGS C. A., MARCHAND P. Diffuse pleural mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in the North Western Cape Province. Br J Ind Med. 1960 Oct;17:260–271. doi: 10.1136/oem.17.4.260. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]