Lung Cancer Mortality and Fibre Exposures Among North Carolina Asbestos Textile Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Loomis D ; Richardson DB ; Wolf SH
• Description:
  OBJECTIVE: To describe mortality among workers exposed to chrysotile asbestos and evaluate the relationship between lung cancer and asbestos fibre exposure. METHODS: Workers employed for at least 1 day between 1 January 1950 and 31 December 1973 in any of four plants in North Carolina, USA that produced asbestos textile products were enumerated. Vital status was ascertained through 31 December 2003. Historical exposures to asbestos fibres were estimated from work histories and 3578 industrial hygiene measurements taken in 1935-1986. Mortality of the cohort was compared with that of the national population via standardised mortality ratios (SMRs). Exposure-response relationships for lung cancer were examined within the cohort using Poisson regression to compute adjusted mortality rate ratios. RESULTS: Follow-up of 5770 workers included in the cohort resulted in 181 640 person-years of observation, with 2583 deaths from all causes and 277 from lung cancer. Mortality from all causes, all cancers and lung cancer was significant higher than expected, with SMRs of 1.47 for all causes, 1.41 for all cancer and 1.96 (95% CI 1.73 to 2.20) for lung cancer. SMRs for pleural cancer, mesothelioma and pneumoconiosis were also elevated. The risk of lung cancer and asbestosis increased with cumulative fibre exposure (RR 1.102 per 100 fibre-year/ml, 95% CI 1.044 to 1.164, and RR 1.249 per 100 fibre-year/ml, 95% CI 1.186 to 1.316, respectively, for total career exposure). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides further evidence that exposure to chrysotile asbestos in textile manufacturing is associated with increased risk of lung cancer, asbestosis cancer of the pleura and mesothelioma. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Asbestos Dust Environmental Monitoring Lung Lung Diseases Mortality Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Safety Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Airborne-dusts Airborne-fibers Asbestos-dust Dust-exposure Dust-inhalation Dust-particles Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Fibrous-dusts Lung-cancer Lung-cells Lung-disease Lung-disorders Lung-irritants Mathematical-models Mesothelial-cells Mortality-data Mortality-rates Mortality-surveys Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Occupational-respiratory-disease Particulate-dust Pleural-cavity Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-system-disorders Safety-measures Safety-practices Work-analysis Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices Worker-health

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Nevada ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  66
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035952
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2009 Aug; 66(8):535-542
• Contact Point Address:
  Dana Loomis, School of Community Health Sciences, MS-274, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
• Email:
  dploomis@unr.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4) ; Chrysotile (CAS RN 12001-29-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20030930
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20110131
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:922f524a9485772b21d6ed44e48a22a58fac75c7a556ff64cbd3b9e5b17c3a95993411264fbac042aab251c150434de9515da92d9dd8badcf703921ffc1fcbb0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187601/cdc_187601_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 213.33 KB ]