Estimation of Occupational Exposure to Asbestos in Italy by the Linkage of Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) and National Insurance Archives. Methodology and Results

Abstract

The identification and monitoring of occupational cancer is an important aspect of occupational health protection. The Italian law on the protection of workers (D. Leg. 81/2008) includes different cancer monitoring systems for high and low etiologic fraction tumors. Record linkage between cancer registries and administrative data is a convenient procedure for occupational cancer monitoring. We aim to: (i) Create a list of industries with asbestos exposure and (ii) identify cancer cases who worked in these industries. The Italian National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) includes information on occupational asbestos exposure of malignant mesothelioma (MM) cases. We developed using data from seven Italian regions a methodology for listing the industries with potential exposure to asbestos linking ReNaM to Italian National Social Security Institute (INPS) data. The methodology is iterative and adjusts for imprecision and inaccuracy in reporting firm names at interview. The list of asbestos exposing firms was applied to the list of cancer cases (all types associated or possibly associated with asbestos according to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph 100C) in two Italian regions for the indication of possible asbestos exposure. Eighteen percent of the cancer cases showed at least one work period in firms potentially exposing to asbestos, 48% of which in regions different from where the cases lived at diagnosis. The methodology offers support for the preliminary screening of asbestos exposing firms in the occupational history of cancer cases.

Primary Ovarian Mesothelioma: A Case Series with Electron Microscopy Examination and Review of the Literature

“…Asbestos exposure has been identified and debated as a possible risk factor for the development of ovarian cancer in some previous reviews and epidemiological studies [ 1 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 144 , 145 , 146 , 147 ].…”

“…The pathogenetic role of asbestos and contaminated talc in these forms is still debated. Asbestos exposure has been identified and debated as a possible risk factor for the development of ovarian cancer in some previous reviews and epidemiological studies [1,[132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147].…”

Big Data, Decision Models, and Public Health

“…The most important aspect of healthcare activities is to provide preventive care [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. The first paper, “ Risk Assessment of Early Lung Cancer with LDCT and Health Examinations ”, by Chang et al [ 6 ], examines the risk of stage I lung cancer in the general population, not limited to smokers, in a retrospective study conducted in Taiwan.…”

Big Data, Decision Models, and Public Health

“…The second paper, "Estimation of Occupational Exposure to Asbestos in Italy by the Linkage of Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) and National Insurance Archives. Methodology and Results", by Airoldi et al [2], creates a list of industries with asbestos exposure and identifies cancer cases of who worked in these industries. Eighteen percent of the cancer cases showed at least one work period in firms potentially exposed to asbestos, 48% of which in regions different from where the cases lived at diagnosis.…”