Cancer Among Workers In The Asbestos Textile Industry

Our plain-English summary of Cancer Among Workers In The Asbestos Textile Industry, by M.L. Newhouse (1973).

The study

• Author: M.L. Newhouse
• Published: Biological Effects Of Asbestos (J.C. Wagner, Editor), Lyon: Iarc Scientific Publications, Volume 8, Pp. 203-208 (1973)
• Type of article: Conference paper
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 001313. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This conference paper first briefly described other researchers' studies of asbestos textile workers. It then reported the author's own study of deaths at a London asbestos factory. The factory had a large textile department and used large amounts of crocidolite, along with amosite and chrysotile. Dust exposure was judged subjectively, and deaths were compared with those expected from England and Wales rates. Among 2640 men followed for more than 10 years, there were 72 lung cancer deaths (including 9 pleural mesotheliomas) and 67 other cancer deaths (including 15 peritoneal mesotheliomas). In general, men with minor exposure and short employment showed no excess deaths. Excesses appeared in longer-employed and severely exposed men, most markedly in severely exposed men employed more than 2 years. There were 35 mesothelioma deaths in the cohort and eight more among contract laggers. Mesothelioma rates rose with severity and length of exposure. A related smoking analysis supported a multiplicative effect of smoking and asbestos on lung cancer. The author could not link risk to any single fibre type and found the evidence on gastro-intestinal cancer inconclusive.

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: Conference paper. It briefly summarises other researchers' studies, then reports the author's own retrospective cohort mortality study at one factory. Observed deaths were compared with expected deaths for England and Wales.
• Who was studied: Workers at a London asbestos factory. Men employed since the Asbestos Regulations came into force were followed until March 1970; 2640 of them were followed for more than 10 years. Women first employed between 1936 and 1942 were followed until December 1968.
• Exposure: Mixed asbestos fibres, mainly crocidolite but also amosite and chrysotile, used in textiles, sectional asbestos piping, friction material and other goods. Exposure was rated subjectively as low to moderate or severe, and grouped by less than or more than 2 years of employment.
• Main results:
  • Among 2640 men followed for more than 10 years, there were 72 lung cancer deaths, including 9 pleural mesotheliomas, and 67 deaths from other cancers, including 15 peritoneal mesotheliomas.
  • In general, men with minor exposure and short employment showed no excess deaths. Among men with long employment, a significant excess of lung cancer and other cancers was beginning to show 25 years after first employment.
  • Among severely exposed men employed less than 2 years, a significant excess of lung cancer deaths was first seen after 15 years of follow-up.
  • In severely exposed men, the effect was much more marked among those who worked more than 2 years at the factory.
  • Among the 126 women with low to moderate exposure, there was a statistically significant excess of lung cancer deaths: 2 observed against 0.3 expected, p less than 0.05.
  • Among the severely exposed women, 11 deaths from mesothelial tumours were found.
  • In the smoking analysis, there was no significant lung cancer excess in low to moderately exposed workers, whether or not they smoked. The excess was highly significant among severely exposed workers who smoked.
  • There were 35 mesothelioma deaths among the men and women in the cohort and eight among contract laggers. The mesothelioma rate increased with both the severity and the length of exposure.
  • Death certificates often misstated mesotheliomas. Five pleural tumours were certified as bronchial carcinoma or lung cancer and two as asbestosis.
  • Men had a significant excess of gastro-intestinal cancer deaths: 31 observed against 20.35 expected, p less than 0.05.
  • Women had no significant excess of gastro-intestinal cancer deaths: 11 observed against 7.3 expected, p equal to 0.12.
  • Among severely exposed men with long employment, the excess annual death rate was more than 500 per 100,000 subject years for lung cancer and more than 200 for other cancers.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that mesothelial tumours and lung cancers appeared to show a dose-response relationship with length and degree of exposure. Smoking and asbestos appeared to act multiplicatively on lung cancer. No conclusion could be drawn about any single fibre, and the evidence on gastro-intestinal cancer was inconclusive.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Workers had mixed fibre exposures, so cancer risk could not be related to any particular fibre type.
  • Histological confirmation of the gastro-intestinal cancer deaths was poor: specimens were available for only eight cases, and three of these were reclassified as peritoneal mesothelioma.
  • Dust exposure was assessed subjectively rather than measured.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Textile Industry, Crocidolite, Amosite, Chrysotile, Lung Cancer, Pleural Mesothelioma, Peritoneal Mesothelioma, Mesothelioma.

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