Asbestos Disease Among Wives of Career Insulators

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos Disease Among Wives of Career Insulators, by E.G. Comstock (1980).

The study

• Author: E.G. Comstock
• Published: Submitted to: Journal American Medical Association, November and To be Presented: The Bi-Annual Meeting of the Latin-American Society of Toxicology. Motevideo, Uruguay. December. (1980)
• 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 1980 manuscript described a clinical evaluation of 12 wives of career insulators examined in Houston. The women were exposed to asbestos dust brought home on their husbands' work clothes, shaken by hand before washing, and on insulation fabric covers reused as wash-cloths and diapers. Their exposure lasted 8 to 33 years (median 21). Of 14 consecutive wives asked, one refused and one was excluded for having worked as an insulator. Ten of the 12 reported shortness of breath and 6 pleuritic chest pain. The abstract reported 8 with chronic cough, but the detailed results described 3 with dry and 4 with productive cough. Four had basal crackling rales, 4 had pleural thickening and 3 had basal linear scarring. Chest x-rays were normal in five. Six women had lung function tests: 3 were normal, 2 restrictive and 1 obstructive. One or more signs of asbestosis were found in 7 of the 12. Ten had never smoked. The author called this a preliminary investigation and concluded that wives of career insulators sustain a substantial risk of clinical dysfunction.

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: Case series (clinical evaluation of 12 women), described by the author as a preliminary investigation
• Who was studied: 12 wives of career insulators who accompanied their husbands to evaluation in Houston, Texas. They were not selected on the basis of their health. 14 consecutive wives were asked: one refused, and one was excluded because she had worked as an insulator. Ages ranged from 40 to 62 (median 49).
• Exposure: Household (non-occupational) exposure to asbestos-containing dust brought home from the workplace on husbands' work clothes, which were shaken by hand before washing, and on fabric covers from insulation that were used as wash-cloths and diapers. Duration of exposure was 8 to 33 years (median 21). The article does not name a fiber type.
• Main results:
  • Time since first exposure ranged from 13 to 38 years, with a median of 28 years (figures from the article's abstract).
  • Of the 12 wives, 10 reported shortness of breath.
  • Of the 12 wives, 6 had pleuritic chest pain.
  • The article's abstract reported a chronic cough in 8 of the 12 wives.
  • The detailed Results described a dry cough in 3 women and a productive cough in 4, which is 7 in total and does not match the abstract's 8.
  • Of the 12 wives, 4 had basal crackling rales, 4 had pleural thickening and 3 had basal linear scarring.
  • Chest x-rays were normal in five of the women, including the two with a history of smoking.
  • Lung function tests were done in 6 women: 3 were normal, 2 restrictive and 1 obstructive.
  • One or more signs of asbestosis were found in 7 of the 12 wives.
  • Two women had a history of smoking; 10 had never smoked.
  • Five women returned sputum specimens, and one of these was positive for ferruginous bodies.
  • Four women had been medically evaluated before for chest complaints without asbestosis being considered. The author judged that asbestosis probably contributed to, or was the only disorder in, all four.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the wives of career insulators sustain a substantial risk of clinical dysfunction.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author described the study as a preliminary investigation.
  • Lung function tests were done on only six of the women, depending on whether the laboratory could test them on the day they were in Houston.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Insulator, Pleuritic Chest Pain, Crackling Rales, Pleural Thickening, Chest X-Ray.

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