TABLE 4.
Characteristics of former asbestos mineworkers with true-positive and false-negative diagnoses of asbestosis
| True-positive | False-negative | p-value | |
| Subjects | 39 (50.6) | 38 (49.4) | |
| Age at death years | 71.8 (51.3–84.3) | 66.0 (48.1–93.0) | 0.00 |
| Employment duration years | 7.0 (0.7–41.0) | 3.3 (0.3–26.6) | 0.01 |
| Latency years | 46.0 (29.0–58.0) | 35.0 (21.0–58.0) | 0.00 |
| Interval from clinical assessment to death years | 5.7 (0.4–7.4) | 5.2 (0.5–7.4) | 0.24 |
| Chest radiograph quality | |||
| Good (grade 1) | 29 | 11 | 0.00 |
| Acceptable (grades 2 and 3) | 10 | 22 | |
| Severity of asbestosis# | |||
| Mild | 14 | 17 | 0.05 |
| Moderate | 15 | 16 | |
| Severe | 10 | 5 | |
| Smoking status | |||
| Never-smoker | 21 | 17 | 0.14 |
| Ex- or current smoker | 15 | 21 | |
| Other radiological abnormalities | |||
| Present | 29 | 27 | 0.74 |
| Absent | 10 | 11 | |
| Mesothelioma# | |||
| Present | 3 | 4 | 0.71¶ |
| Absent | 36 | 34 | |
| Lung cancer# | |||
| Present | 3 | 7 | 0.19¶ |
| Absent | 36 | 31 | |
| Emphysema# | |||
| Present | 15 | 13 | 0.70 |
| Absent | 24 | 25 | |
| PTB# | |||
| Present | 5 | 11 | 0.08 |
| Absent | 34 | 27 |
Data are presented as n (%), median (range) or n, unless otherwise stated. PTB: pulmonary tuberculosis. #: autopsy diagnosis; ¶: Fischer's exact test.