Cancer Incidence in Asbestos-Exposed Workers: An Update on Four Finnish Cohorts

Abstract

BackgroundWe assessed the cancer risks of four different Finnish asbestos-exposed cohorts. We also explored if the cohorts with varying profiles of asbestos exposure exhibited varying relative risks of cancer.MethodsThe incident cancer cases for the asbestos-exposed worker cohorts were updated to the end of 2012 using the files of the Finnish Cancer Registry. The previously formed cohorts consisted of asbestos mine workers, asbestosis patients, asbestos sprayers, and workers who had taken part in a screening study based on asbestos exposure at work.ResultsThe standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for mesothelioma varied from about threefold to > 100-fold in the different cohorts. In the screening cohort the SIR for mesothelioma was highest in 2003–2007, In other cohorts it was more constant in 5-year period inspection. The SIR for lung cancer was about twofold to tenfold in all except the screening cohort. Asbestos sprayers were at the highest risk of mesothelioma and lung cancer.ConclusionThe SIR for mesothelioma is high in all of the cohorts that represent different kinds of asbestos exposure. The smaller SIR for mesothelioma in the screening cohort with lowest level of asbestos exposure might suggest dose-responsiveness between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma. It does seem that the highest risk of lung cancer in these cohorts except in the youngest of the cohorts, the screening cohort, is over. The highest SIR for lung cancer of the asbestosis patient and sprayers cohort is explained by their heavy asbestos exposure.

Ovarian cancer in a former asbestos textile factory worker: a case report

“…Asbestos textile is primarily pulled by the flow of pulmonary lymph from lung interstitium (primary translocation) to reach the bloodstream, and is continuously distributed to the whole body (secondary translocation). Since the translocation process of asbestos textile continues for decades, the latent period of asbestos-related disease is as long as 10 to 50 years [ 31 , 34 , 38 , 39 , 42 , 43 ].…”

What will go wrong has gone wrong: asbestos exposure risk among construction workers in Nigeria

“…However, with the ban of the product in high-income countries in the late 20 th Century this has resulted in marketing of the product to less developed, lower and middle-income countries, considered as having a weak regulatory approach toward the product ban implementation. As reported by Marsili et al (2016) "suspicions that lung cancer may be associated with asbestos exposure were first reported in the USA and the UK in the 1930s, and decades later reports of pleural tumours associated with asbestos exposure followed". Several articles have reported on the association between asbestos fibre exposure to several forms of ill health that include pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pleural plaques, pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis (asbestosis), lung cancer, and mesothelioma of the pleura or peritoneum in humans (Harington and McGlashan, 1998, Joshi and Gupta, 2004, Braun and Kisting 2006, Tan and Warren, 2009, Bunderson-Schelvan et al 2011, Lee et al 2013, Hashim and Boffetta, 2014, WHO, 2014, WHO, 2015, Nynäs et al 2016, Kratzke and Kratzke, 2018.…”

“…The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1973 categorised asbestos as a human carcinogen and 44 years later, WHO (2014) further confirms the relationship between exposure to either forms of asbestos -chrysotile, amosite and anthrophyllite or their mixture and the increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma among workers and those living around asbestos factories and mines, as well as among individuals living with asbestos workers. To date, countless studies into occupational and non-occupational exposure to asbestos have demonstrated strong links to asbestosis, mesothelioma and pulmonary disease and other diseases (Joshi and Gupta, 2004;Braun and Kisting 2006, WHO, 2012, Lee et al 2013, WHO, 2014Marsili et al 2016). In considering the extensive epidemiological evidence of asbestos as a human carcinogen, over 50 countries have so far banned asbestos production and use, while several nations have applied strict restrictions on its use.…”

“…Occupations that are at most at risk of asbestos fibre exposure and asbestos associated diseases range from construction work, the repairing, remodelling or demolition of buildings, service and maintenance work in buildings containing damaged asbestos-containing materials, and production of some auto parts, especially the making of brake and clutch pads (Erdinç et al 2003). Where asbestos exposure remains, due to primary production or secondary use of its products, such as in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Brazil, Russian Federation and China, an estimated 1 million workers are said to be at high risk of developing mesothelioma (Joshi and Gupta, 2004, Braun and Kisting, 2006, Hashim and Boffetta, 2014, Marsili et al 2016, thereby creating a high-risk "incubator" of asbestos related diseases (Lee et al 2013). Thus, the burden of asbestos related disease in developing countries remains largely unknown (Boffetta, 2007, Bunderson-Schelvan et al 2011.…”

Mortality among workers exposed to asbestos at the shipyard of Genoa, Italy: a 55 years follow-up

“…A recent pooled mortality analysis of 43 Italian cohorts of workers exposed to asbestos followed up between 1970 and 2010 confirmed increased mortality for pleura and peritoneal mesothelioma and lung cancer [19]. In particular, mortality rates from pleural cancer showed an increasing trend during the first 30 years since first exposure to asbestos, which then reaches a plateau thereafter.. A study of four Finnish asbestos-exposed cohorts followed up between 1967 and 2012 revealed 3 to 100-fold increased incidence for mesothelioma and 2 to 10-fold for lung cancer [20]. The Swedish component of the Nordic Occupational Cancer study (NOCCA) reported increased risk of mesothelioma with a clear dose-response relationship [21].…”