Abstract
OBJECTIVE—To give the observed and expected deaths due to cancer at all separate sites in asbestos workers in east London, and to analyse these for overall effect and exposure-response trend. METHODS—The mortality experience of a cohort of over 5000 men and women followed up for over 30 years since first exposure to asbestos has been extracted. RESULTS—There was a large excess of deaths due to cancer (537 observed, 222 expected). Most of these were due to cancer of the lung (232 observed, 77 expected) and pleural (52) and peritoneal (48) mesothelioma. The exposure-response trend for all these three causes was highly significant. There was also an excess of cancer of the colon (27 observed, 15 expected) which was significantly related to exposure. There were significant excesses of cancer of the ovary, of the liver, and of the oesophagus but with no consistent relation to exposure. CONCLUSIONS—The excess risk of cancer after exposure to asbestos was mainly due to cancer of the lung and mesothelioma. An exposure related excess of cancer of the colon was also detected but the possibility that some of these deaths may have been peritoneal mesotheliomas could not be excluded. There was no consistent evidence of exposure related excesses at any other site. Keywords: asbestos; cancer; exposure-response
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (106.6 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Berry G., Newhouse M. L., Antonis P. Combined effect of asbestos and smoking on mortality from lung cancer and mesothelioma in factory workers. Br J Ind Med. 1985 Jan;42(1):12–18. doi: 10.1136/oem.42.1.12. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Berry G., Newhouse M. L., Turok M. Combined effect of asbestos exposure and smoking on mortality from lung cancer in factory workers. Lancet. 1972 Sep 2;2(7775):476–478. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(72)91867-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L. A study of the mortality of workers in an asbestos factory. Br J Ind Med. 1969 Oct;26(4):294–301. doi: 10.1136/oem.26.4.294. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L., Berry G. Abestos and laryngeal carcinoma. Lancet. 1973 Sep 15;2(7829):615–615. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(73)92438-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L., Berry G. Patterns of mortality in asbestos factory workers in London. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1979;330:53–60. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1979.tb18709.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L., Berry G. Predictions of mortality from mesothelial tumours in asbestos factory workers. Br J Ind Med. 1976 Aug;33(3):147–151. doi: 10.1136/oem.33.3.147. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L., Berry G., Wagner J. C. Mortality of factory workers in east London 1933-80. Br J Ind Med. 1985 Jan;42(1):4–11. doi: 10.1136/oem.42.1.4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L., Berry G., Wagner J. C., Turok M. E. A study of the mortality of female asbestos workers. Br J Ind Med. 1972 Apr;29(2):134–141. doi: 10.1136/oem.29.2.134. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Newhouse M. L., Wagner J. C. Validation of death certificates in asbestos workers. Br J Ind Med. 1969 Oct;26(4):302–307. doi: 10.1136/oem.26.4.302. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Sali D., Boffetta P. Kidney cancer and occupational exposure to asbestos: a meta-analysis of occupational cohort studies. Cancer Causes Control. 2000 Jan;11(1):37–47. doi: 10.1023/a:1008905302597. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]