Mesothelioma Among Shoe Workers

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma Among Shoe Workers, by P. Decoufle (1980).

The study

• Author: P. Decoufle
• Published: Lancet, February 2nd 1980
• Type of article: Letter
• 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 was a short letter to The Lancet from a single author. It described an unexpected finding in a study of causes of death among shoe industry workers. The study used death notices that labour unions published from 1966 to 1977, and the table heading gives 3806 deceased workers. Three death certificates listed mesothelioma as the underlying cause of death. One worker, a man who died at 60 in 1967 and had worked as a cutter, had mesothelioma of the pleura. Another died at 72 in 1976 after 41 years of employment that began in 1926, in a job the scan appears to give as fitting (sewing), and had mesothelioma of the abdomen. The third died at 72, was first employed in 1923, and had malignant mesothelioma with no site stated. The author could not look into these workers' other jobs or confirm the diagnoses. The author noted that asbestos is used as a filler in various rubber products. The author wrote that, unless the cluster was a chance finding or came from a shared asbestos exposure outside the shoe industry, "these data suggest that asbestos, or other materials"; the rest of that sentence is missing from the scan.

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: Letter reporting three mesothelioma deaths found in a study of causes of death among shoe workers, based on union death notices
• Who was studied: Deceased shoe industry workers whose deaths were reported in labour union death notices, 1966-77; the table heading gives 3806 deceased
• Exposure: Employment in the shoe industry. Asbestos exposure was not measured. The author considered asbestos as one possibility because it is used as a filler in rubber products.
• Main results:
  • Three death certificates among the deceased shoe workers listed mesothelioma as the underlying cause of death
  • Case B: a man who died at age 60 in 1967, job cutter, death certificate diagnosis mesothelioma of the pleura
  • Case C: died at age 72 in 1976, first employed in 1926, employed 41 years, job apparently fitting (sewing), death certificate diagnosis mesothelioma of the abdomen
  • Case A: died at age 72, first employed in 1923, duration printed as 5, job unknown, death certificate diagnosis malignant mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The author wrote that, unless the cluster was a chance finding or the result of a common asbestos exposure outside the shoe industry, the data suggest that asbestos or other materials (the sentence is cut off in the scan) may be relevant
• Limitations the authors state:
  • It was not possible to investigate the other types of employment these persons may have had
  • The mesothelioma diagnoses on the death certificates could not be confirmed
  • The cluster could be a chance finding or the result of a common asbestos exposure outside the shoe industry

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Notice, Death Certificate, Pleura, Asbestos Exposure.

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