Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Industrial Medicine logoLink to British Journal of Industrial Medicine
. 1993 Oct;50(10):902–906. doi: 10.1136/oem.50.10.902

Radiographic abnormalities and mortality in subjects with exposure to crocidolite.

N H de Klerk 1, A W Musk 1, W O Cookson 1, J J Glancy 1, M S Hobbs 1
PMCID: PMC1035519  PMID: 8217849

Abstract

Plain chest radiographs from a one in six random sample of the workforce of the asbestos industry at Wittenoom, Western Australia between 1943 and 1966 have been classified for degree of profusion and pleural thickening by two independent observers according to the 1980 UICC-ILO Classification of Radiographs for the pneumoconioses to clarify the effect of degree of radiological abnormality on survival. A total of 1106 subjects were selected. Each subject's age, cumulative exposure to crocidolite, and time since first exposure were determined from employment records, the results of a survey of airborne concentrations of fibres > 5 mu in length conducted in 1966, and an exposure rating by an industrial hygienist and an ex-manager of the mine and mill at Wittenoom. By the end of 1986 193 subjects had died. Conditional logistic regression was used to model the relative risk of death in five separate case-control analyses in which the outcomes were deaths from: (1) all causes, (2) malignant mesothelioma, (3) lung cancer, (4) asbestosis, and (5) other causes excluding cancer and asbestosis. Up to 20 controls per case were randomly chosen from all men of the same age who were not known to have died before the date of death of the index case. After adjustment for exposure and time since first exposure, there were significant and independent effects of radiographic profusion and pleural thickening on all cause mortality. The effect of profusion was largely a result of the effect on mortality from malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis but not lung cancer. The effect of pleural thickening was greatest on mortality from other causes, mainly ischaemic heart disease. This study has shown that degree of radiographic abnormality has an independent effect on mortality from malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis, and all causes even after allowing for the effects of age, degree of exposure, and time since first exposure.

Full text

PDF
902

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Armstrong B. K., de Klerk N. H., Musk A. W., Hobbs M. S. Mortality in miners and millers of crocidolite in Western Australia. Br J Ind Med. 1988 Jan;45(1):5–13. doi: 10.1136/oem.45.1.5. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berry G., Gilson J. C., Holmes S., Lewinsohn H. C., Roach S. A. Asbestosis: a study of dose-response relationships in an asbestos textile factory. Br J Ind Med. 1979 May;36(2):98–112. doi: 10.1136/oem.36.2.98. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Berry G. Prediction of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis in former Wittenoom asbestos workers. Br J Ind Med. 1991 Dec;48(12):793–802. doi: 10.1136/oem.48.12.793. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cookson W. O., Musk A. W., Glancy J. J., de Klerk N. H., Yin R., Mele R., Carr N. G., Armstrong B. K., Hobbs M. S. Compensation, radiographic changes, and survival in applicants for asbestosis compensation. Br J Ind Med. 1985 Jul;42(7):461–468. doi: 10.1136/oem.42.7.461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hobbs M. S., Woodward S. D., Murphy B., Musk A. W., Elder J. E. The incidence of pneumoconiosis, mesothelioma and other respiratory cancer in men engaged in mining and milling crocidolite in Western Australia. IARC Sci Publ. 1980;(30):615–625. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hughes J. M., Weill H. Asbestosis as a precursor of asbestos related lung cancer: results of a prospective mortality study. Br J Ind Med. 1991 Apr;48(4):229–233. doi: 10.1136/oem.48.4.229. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Liddell F. D., McDonald J. C. Radiological findings as predictors of mortality in Quebec asbestos workers. Br J Ind Med. 1980 Aug;37(3):257–267. doi: 10.1136/oem.37.3.257. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Lilis R., Miller A., Godbold J., Chan E., Selikoff I. J. Radiographic abnormalities in asbestos insulators: effects of duration from onset of exposure and smoking. Relationships of dyspnea with parenchymal and pleural fibrosis. Am J Ind Med. 1991;20(1):1–15. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700200102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Selikoff I. J., Hammond E. C., Seidman H. Mortality experience of insulation workers in the United States and Canada, 1943--1976. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1979;330:91–116. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1979.tb18711.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Sluis-Cremer G. K., Bezuidenhout B. N. Relation between asbestosis and bronchial cancer in amphibole asbestos miners. Br J Ind Med. 1989 Aug;46(8):537–540. doi: 10.1136/oem.46.8.537. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. de Klerk N. H., Armstrong B. K., Musk A. W., Hobbs M. S. Cancer mortality in relation to measures of occupational exposure to crocidolite at Wittenoom Gorge in Western Australia. Br J Ind Med. 1989 Aug;46(8):529–536. doi: 10.1136/oem.46.8.529. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. de Klerk N. H., Armstrong B. K., Musk A. W., Hobbs M. S. Predictions of future cases of asbestos-related disease among former miners and millers of crocidolite in Western Australia. Med J Aust. 1989 Dec 4;151(11-12):616–620. doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1989.tb139629.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. de Klerk N. H., Cookson W. O., Musk A. W., Armstrong B. K., Glancy J. J. Natural history of pleural thickening after exposure to crocidolite. Br J Ind Med. 1989 Jul;46(7):461–467. doi: 10.1136/oem.46.7.461. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. de Klerk N. H., Musk A. W., Armstrong B. K., Hobbs M. S. Smoking, exposure to crocidolite, and the incidence of lung cancer and asbestosis. Br J Ind Med. 1991 Jun;48(6):412–417. doi: 10.1136/oem.48.6.412. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Industrial Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES