|
Mesothelioma
Treatment
Abstracts
& Articles
Tyler
asbestos workers: mortality experience in
a cohort exposed to amosite
Occup
Environ Med 1998 Mar;55(3):155-60
Levin
JL, McLarty JW, Hurst GA, Smith AN, Frank
AL
Department
of Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, University of Texas Health
Center 75710, USA.
OBJECTIVES:
To examine the causes of death among 1130
former workers of a plant in Tyler, Texas
dedicated to the manufacture of asbestos
pipe insulation materials. This cohort is
important and unusual because it used
amosite as the only asbestiform mineral in
the production process. High level
exposure of such a specific type was
documented through industrial hygiene
surveys in the plant. METHODS: Deaths were
ascertained through various sources
including data tapes from the Texas
Department of Health and the national
death index files. As many death
certificates as possible were secured
(304/315) and cause of death assigned.
After select exclusions, 222 death
certificates were used in the analysis.
Causes of death were compared with age,
race, and sex specific mortalities for the
United States population with a commercial
software package (OCMAP Version 2.0).
RESULTS: There was an excess of deaths
from respiratory cancer including the
bronchus, trachea, and lung (standardised
mortality ratio (SMR) 277 with 95%
confidence interval (95% CI) 193 to 385).
Four pleural mesotheliomas and two
peritoneal mesotheliomas were identified.
The analysis also showed an increasing
risk of respiratory malignancy with
increased duration of exposure including a
significant excess of total deaths from
respiratory cancer with less than six
months of work at the plant (SMR 268 with
95% CI 172 to 399). CONCLUSIONS: The
importance of the cohort lies with the
pure amosite exposure which took place in
the plant and the extended period of
latency which has followed. The death
certificate analysis indicates the
pathogenicity of amosite, the predominant
commercial amphibole used in the United
States. These data confirm a link between
amosite asbestos and respiratory
malignancy as well as mesothelioma.
PMID:
9624266, UI: 98287330
Click here to order or save
article
If
you have any questions regarding treatment
options or your legal rights, please
contact
us.
|