Impact of an asbestos cement factory on mesothelioma incidence: Global assessment of effects of occupational, familial, and environmental exposure

8560 Background: Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) is an asbestos-related malignancy that presents mainly in the pleura (MPM) and peritoneum (MAM). In a densely populated area of Aalborg city in North Jutland, Denmark, a large Eternit asbestos factory that was active for 60 years until 1986 and two shipyards were situated. The Region of North Jutland, Denmark has a high mm incidence in women of 1.0/100,000. Methods: From 1974-2015, 101 histological and cytological samples of women diagnosed with mm in Aalborg University Hospital were identified re-evaluated by modern immunohistochemistry. Patient information regarding asbestos exposure was retrieved from medical records and selected Danish registries. Asbestos exposure was classified as primary for asbestos workers; domestic, for women living with an asbestos worker; environmental, when living or working within 10.000 meters from an asbestos emitting location; unknown, where no source of asbestos exposure could be identified. Results: Clinical and histopathological mm diagnosis was certain for 91 women. Potential asbestos exposure is summarized in Table 1. The employment of the women and their relatives include work at the asbestos cement factory, shipyard, construction, laboratory, pipe factory, electrician and insulator. The women with domestic and combined domestic and environmental (secondary) exposure to asbestos were most prone to develop MPM rather than MAM while women primary exposed to asbestos developed MAM rather than MPM (p=0.016). Conclusions: This study showed that the vast majority (64%) of the women diagnosed with mm had documented non-occupational asbestos exposure and almost 1/5 had a sole environmental exposure, by living in proximity to asbestos industry. Environmental asbestos exposure is a serious risk factor for mm in women. Primary asbestos exposure, inferring more intense exposure through occupation, may predispose to peritoneal mesothelioma in women. [Table: see text]

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Bricks and ‘asbscrete’ building blocks from asbestos-cement factory wastes

Conservation & Recycling ◽

10.1016/0361-3658(81)90015-1 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 123-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

E.K. Obiakor

Keyword(s):

Building Blocks ◽

Cement Factory ◽

Asbestos Cement

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Impact of an asbestos cement factory on mesothelioma incidence in a community in Italy

Environmental Research ◽

10.1016/j.envres.2019.108968 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 183 ◽

pp. 108968 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dario Consonni ◽

Sara De Matteis ◽

Barbara Dallari ◽

Angela C. Pesatori ◽

Luciano Riboldi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cement Factory ◽

Asbestos Cement

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Asbestos Air Pollution: Description of a Mesothelioma Cluster Due to Residential Exposure from an Asbestos Cement Factory

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17082636 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (8) ◽

pp. 2636 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luigi Vimercati ◽

Domenica Cavone ◽

Maria Celeste Delfino ◽

Antonio Caputi ◽

Luigi De Maria ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Asbestos Exposure ◽

Morphological Type ◽

Health Impact ◽

Residential Exposure ◽

Resident Population ◽

Adjusted Risk ◽

Cement Factory ◽

Asbestos Cement ◽

Small Cohort ◽

High Length

The study describes a cluster of 71 malignant mesothelioma cases among Bari residents without asbestos exposure other than residential exposure. This small cohort, as expected, was composed of a majority of females (56.34%) with a M/F ratio of 0.8, ages ≤ 65 years old (52.11%) and the epithelioid morphological type (78.87%). Sixty-four subjects (90.14%) lived between 10 m and 1000 m from the asbestos cement factory (Fibronit), and the latency length was longer than 55 years for 25 subjects (35.21%). The adjusted risk (adjusted OR) of observing the epithelial form of mesothelioma among subjects living at small distances from Fibronit was high (OR = 1.870 (0.353–9.905)) for people living 550–1000 m from the site and for those living less than 550 m from the site (OR = 1.470 (0.262–8.248)). Additionally, the subjects with a high length of exposure showed a relevant risk of epithelioid mesothelioma both for 21–40 years of exposure (OR = 2.027 (0.521–7.890)) and more than 40 years of exposure (OR = 2.879 (0.651–12.736)). All of the estimates were high but not significant because this transitional study has a typically low power. The adjustment for latency showed the same trend. Using detailed information collected by the regional mesothelioma registry, this study provided evidence of a continuing health impact of the Fibronit asbestos cement factory in Bari on the resident population.

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