Estimates of historical exposures by phase contrast and transmission electron microscopy for pooled exposure-response analyses of North Carolina and South Carolina, USA asbestos textile cohorts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dement, John M. ; Kuempel, Eileen D. ; Loomis D ; Richardson D ; Wolf SH
• Description:
  Objectives: To develop pooled size-specific asbestos fiber exposure estimates for North Carolina and South Carolina asbestos textile plants. Methods: Airborne sample data and prior exposure estimates by phase-contrast microscopy (PCM) for the two cohorts were reviewed and compared. Estimates by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for 160 membrane filter samples from all plant were pooled. Poisson regression models were developed to predict bivariate diameter/length airborne fiber size distributions based on independent categorical variables for fiber diameter, fiber length, plant, and exposure zone. The model predicted bivariate diameter/length distributions were expressed as the proportion of fibers in 28 size-specific cells and these data were used to calculate PCM to TEM adjustment factors in order to estimate fiber size-specific exposures for the pooled cohort. Results: Exposure levels in the North Carolina plants were in excess of 50 f/cc for many operations through about 1955 owing to lack of dust control measures in early years whereas levels in the South Carolina plant were generally less than 10 f/cc by about 1950. The Poisson regression models found covariates for plant department to be a stronger predictor of bivariate size proportions than plant; however, a plant effect was observed. The final Poisson models demonstrated good fit to the observed data. Conclusions: Consistent with early studies, fiber exposures in the North Carolina plants were much higher than in South Carolina plant. Use of the predicted size-specific TEM exposures by plant and department based on the Poisson model predictions should reduce exposure. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Asbestos Dust Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Inorganic Chemicals Lung Lung Diseases Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Microbiology Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Airborne-fibers Asbestos-dust Asbestos-fibers Dust-exposure Dust-inhalation Dust-particles Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Fiber-deposition Fibrous-bodies Fibrous-dusts Filter-membranes Industrial-dusts Industrial-environment Industrial-exposures Industrial-hazards Industrial-processes Lung-cells Lung-disease Lung-disorders Lung-irritants Mathematical-models Microscopic-analysis Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Occupational-respiratory-disease Particle-aerodynamics Particulate-dust Particulates Pulmonary-system-disorders Sampling-methods Work-environment Work-operations Worker-health Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Nebraska ; North Carolina ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  68
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20039175
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2011 Aug; 68(8):593-598
• Contact Point Address:
  Professor John M Dement, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 2200 W. Main Street, Suite 400, Durham, North Carolina 27705
• Email:
  john.dement@duke.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing ; Mining
• 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-512:9a806fe5c0077818c914d93fa8b4528f86b5840ab79e19fb03ffa33d30341780ce3a8f9d608ec9b62bdf33490ef36fe28e1b35aed3afa1e3c43b7f4e0f10cdee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/192617/cdc_192617_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 108.46 KB ]