Asbestos fibre dimensions and lung cancer mortality among workers exposed to chrysotile

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Loomis D ; Richardson D ; Wolf S ; Dement, John M. ; Loomis D ; Richardson D ; Wolf S
• Description:
  OBJECTIVES: To estimate exposures to asbestos fibres of specific sizes among asbestos textile manufacturing workers exposed to chrysotile using data from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and to evaluate the extent to which the risk of lung cancer varies with fibre length and diameter. METHODS: 3803 workers employed for at least 1 day between 1 January 1950 and 31 December 1973 in any of three plants in North Carolina, USA that produced asbestos textile products and followed for vital status through 31 December 2003 were included. Historical exposures to asbestos fibres were estimated from work histories and 3578 industrial hygiene measurements taken in 1935-1986. Exposure-response relationships for lung cancer were examined within the cohort using Poisson regression. RESULTS: Indicators of fibre length and diameter obtained by TEM were positively and significantly associated with increasing risk of lung cancer. Exposures to longer and thinner fibres tended to be most strongly associated with lung cancer, and models for these fibres fit the data best. Simultaneously modelling indicators of cumulative mean fibre length and diameter yielded a positive coefficient for fibre length and a negative coefficient for fibre diameter. CONCLUSIONS: The results support the hypothesis that the risk of lung cancer among workers exposed to chrysotile asbestos increases with exposure to longer fibres. More research is needed to improve the characterisation of exposures by fibre size and number and to analyse the associated risks in a variety of industries and populations [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Asbestos Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Inorganic Chemicals Lung Lung Diseases Microbiology Neoplasms Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Textile Industry

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• Keywords:
  Airborne-fibers Asbestos-fibers Cancer Chronic-exposure Dose-response Employee-exposure Exposure-assessment Industrial-exposures Lung-cancer Mathematical-models Measurement-equipment Microscopic-analysis Textile-workers Textiles-industry

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Nevada ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Volume:
  67
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038824
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2010 Sep; 67(9):580-584
• Contact Point Address:
  Professor 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) ; Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4) ; Chrysotile (CAS RN 12001-29-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• 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:a136dbaba3c20d90b2546387e31b1f17898efc3bef22ff1d153cd87765e5de17a1ebf726ae4a7fe2be778809a6a836ff8c1de80b684007ab76534a598da6797c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192390/cdc_192390_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 129.63 KB ]