Asbest Und Asbestose Asbestos Smoking and Lung Cancer

Our plain-English summary of Asbest Und Asbestose Asbestos Smoking and Lung Cancer, by M.L. Newhouse (1976).

The study

• Author: M.L. Newhouse
• Published: ASBEST UND ASBESTOSE (COLLOQUIUM 21/22-11-1975), BERLIN. P.545-547 (1976)
• Type of article: Conference paper
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This short conference paper by M.L. Newhouse described a study done with a colleague, Mr. Berry, at an East London asbestos factory. It looked at how smoking and asbestos exposure together related to lung cancer deaths. The study included 1834 men born between 1900 and 1930 and first employed between April 1933 and December 1955, and 658 women first employed between 1936 and 1942, all alive on January 1st, 1960. The study period ran from January 1st, 1960 to March 31st, 1970. Smoking information came from a questionnaire for survivors and from hospitals, doctors or relatives for those who had died; the response rate was approximately 72%. Thirty percent of the women and 6% of the men had never smoked. The author reported a very marked difference in mortality between workers with low and high exposure, and between smokers and non-smokers. Risk was much reduced in non-smokers. Two ideas of how the two causes combine were compared: adding or multiplying. The results for men were indecisive, while those for women clearly favoured multiplying. The tables with the actual figures are missing from the available text.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Short conference paper describing the author's own cohort study (published as Berry et al., 1972) of smoking habits and lung cancer mortality in asbestos factory workers
• Who was studied: Workers at an East London asbestos factory. 1834 men born between 1900 and 1930, alive on January 1st, 1960, and first employed between April 1933 and December 1955. 658 women alive on January 1st, 1960 and first employed between 1936 and 1942. The study period was January 1st, 1960 to March 31st, 1970.
• Exposure: Occupational asbestos exposure at the factory, compared as low versus high exposure, together with cigarette smoking. The fiber type used at the factory is not stated in this text.
• Main results:
  • Smoking information for workers who had died came from hospitals, general practitioners and occasionally relatives. Survivors were sent a questionnaire. The response rate for these enquiries, covering both survivors and the deceased, was approximately 72%.
  • Thirty percent of the women had never smoked, compared with 6% of the men.
  • Among the male and female workers there was a very marked difference in mortality between low and high exposure, and between smokers and non-smokers. Risk was much reduced in non-smokers.
  • In testing whether asbestos and smoking add or multiply in their effect, the results for men were indecisive. The results for women clearly favoured the multiplicative hypothesis.
  • The author stated that even workers with low exposure were at risk if followed for long enough (Table 7). These data had not been analysed by smoking habits.
• The authors' conclusion: The author stated that, because the calculation allowed for smoking habits, any excess risk could be attributed to occupational exposure. The author also stated that the women's results clearly favoured the multiplicative hypothesis of how asbestos and smoking combine.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Smoking histories were recorded more often for those who died of lung cancer than for those who died of other cancers. The authors adjusted for this.
  • The data showing risk at low exposure over long follow-up had not been analysed in relation to smoking habits.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Lung Cancer, Asbestos Exposure.

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