Environmental asbestos exposure and malignant pleural mesothelioma

Abstract

Asbestos-related benign and malignant pleural diseases are endemic in some rural parts of central Turkey because of environmental exposure to asbestos fibres. We report here epidemiological data on 113 patients with diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma (DMPM) diagnosed in our clinic in Eskişehir, located in central Turkey. Of the 113 patients, 59 were men and 54 women (male:female ratio = 1). Ninety-seven patients (86%) had non-occupational asbestos exposure; all were living in villages. Their mean age was 56 years. As the patients had been exposed to asbestos from birth, the latency period was equivalent to the age of the patients. Twenty-eight patients (29%) had lived in villages their entire lives. The other 69 (71%) had been born in a village but migrated to the city or had given up white-soil usage for various reasons. The mean exposure time was 55 years for those with a long exposure period and 25 years for those with a short exposure period, but there was no significant difference between the age of the disease appearance for both groups (55 and 56 years, respectively). Thus, the latency time of mesothelioma due to environmental exposure to asbestos was longer than that due to occupational exposure, but independent of the length of exposure. Soil samples from 67 villages were analysed, comprising a population of 10,120 villagers. Tremolite and some other types of asbestos were found. In conclusion, DMPM in our region is due to mainly to environmental exposure to asbestos. The risk is substantial as a large proportion of the villagers are exposed. After smoking, asbestos exposure is one of the most serious health hazards in our rural population.

Cancer incidence among women and girls environmentally and occupationally exposed to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, Western Australia

“…39 A meta-analysis examining domestic and neighborhood exposure and risk of pleural mesothelioma reported an RR 5 8.1 (95%CI 5.3-12) for domestic exposure and RR 5 7.0 (95%CI 4.7-11) for neighborhood exposure. 40 This study found that the latency period between exposure to blue asbestos at Wittenoom and diagnosis with malignant mesothelioma in ABA workers was significantly shorter than that in residents and consequently the incidence rate in workers appears to have peaked earlier than that of the residents. We have earlier reported a longer latency period in Wittenoom residents compared with the Wittenoom (male) ABA workers.…”

Bronchus, Trachea, Lymphatic gland and Submental Metastasis in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

“…MPM etiyolojisinde bilinen iki önemli neden asbest veya erionit lifleriyle temastır. Bu liflerin solunmasıyla hastalık gelişir (8,9). Çev-resel temas ve mesleksel temas olmak üzere iki tür temas mevcuttur.…”

The role of environmental and occupational exposures in Turkish immigrants with fibre-related disease

“…Another explanation is that the mean age of the immigrants with relevant exposures (in Belgium, 40¡11 yrs (HMMS inquiry)) is lower than that of the diseased groups in Turkey. For example, pleural calcifications were recorded in 1.7% of the exposed subjects younger than 40 yrs [2], the mean age of those with plaques in Kureysler village is 51 [21] and the mean age of two series of environmental asbestos-related mesothelioma cases in Turkey were 50 [22] and 56 yrs [23], respectively. A steady increase in the number of environmentally-induced, asbestosrelated diseases could thus be foreseen for the next 20 yrs when the Turkish immigrant population is aging.…”