Mesothelioma among Swiss furniture workers

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma among Swiss furniture workers, by G. Schüler, J.R. Rüttner (Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1989).

The study

• Authors: G. Schüler, J.R. Rüttner
• Journal: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
• Published: 1989;15(6):440-2
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M nos. 000132, 000154).

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor, not a new study. The authors commented on an earlier analysis of Swiss death certificates by Minder and Vader, which reported furniture workers to be a high-risk group for pleural mesothelioma. They drew on 160 pleural mesothelioma cases investigated by the Zürich Group for Research on Pneumoconiosis, all confirmed by autopsy, with the lungs examined for asbestos. Fifteen of the 160 (9.4%) were furniture workers, against 1.9% of occupationally active Swiss men. The authors stated that this difference was not explained by selection bias. Asbestos was found in the lungs of 14 of the 15 furniture workers, and six had worked in railway car construction and repair workshops. The authors also cited registry checks of death certificates. In Geneva, 8 of 23 pleural mesothelioma deaths (35%) were missed, and 9 of 24 coded cases (37.5%) were false positives. In Zürich, 6 of 33 deaths were missed, and 12 of 39 coded cases (31%) were false positives. The authors concluded that the title "furniture worker" implies an increased probability of former asbestos exposure, and that Minder and Vader's risk estimates were crude.

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 to the editor commenting on a published analysis of Swiss mortality data, using the authors' own case register and cancer registry data
• Who was studied: 160 cases of pleural mesothelioma collected by the Zürich Group for Research on Pneumoconiosis, with diagnosis confirmed by autopsy; 15 of them were furniture workers
• Exposure: Asbestos (fiber type not specified), assessed by mineralogical lung analysis, among furniture workers; some had also worked in railway car construction and repair workshops
• Main results:
  • Fifteen of the 160 mesotheliomas (9.4%) occurred in furniture workers
  • Furniture workers made up 1.9% of occupationally active Swiss men; the authors stated the difference in percentages is not explainable by selection bias
  • Asbestos was found in the lungs of 14 of the 15 furniture workers; six had worked in workshops for railway car construction and repair
  • Of three of Minder and Vader's cases found in the Zürich cancer register, one had formerly worked in a refrigerator factory where asbestos was widely used
  • Only one of those three cases had an autopsy; in the other two, diagnosis rested on needle biopsies only
  • Geneva registry (men, 1970 to 1985): 8 of 23 pleural mesothelioma deaths (35%) were false negatives on death certificates
  • Geneva registry: 9 of 24 death certificates coded 163.0 (37.5%) were false positives
  • Canton of Zürich (men, 1980 to 1983): 6 of 33 pleural mesothelioma deaths were false negatives, four of them misdiagnosed as lung cancer
  • Canton of Zürich: the false positive rate was 12 of 39 (31%)
  • The 203 pleural mesothelioma deaths in men aged 30 to 74 in Minder and Vader's data over seven years gave a mortality figure of 2.3 per 100 000 per year
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, in their experience, the occupational title "furniture worker" implies an increased probability of former asbestos exposure. They considered it highly improbable that another factor explained the mesothelioma excess. They said Minder and Vader's risk estimates must be viewed as crude and that detailed investigation of each case is needed.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Re: "Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Among Swiss Furniture Workers: A New High-Risk Group" by CE Minder, J.P Vader. Scand J work Environ Health 1988;14:252-6 — E. Merler, P. Ricci (1989)
• Mesothelioma in Swiss railroad workers — J.R. Rüttner (1991)
• Extended mortality follow-up among men and women in a U.S. furniture workers union — B.A. Miller, A. Blair, et al. (1994)
• Carbon Nanotube and Asbestos Exposures Induce Overlapping but Distinct Profiles of Lung Pathology in Non-Swiss Albino CF-1 Mice — E.A. Frank, V.S. Carreira, et al. (2016)
• Comprehensive Treatment Algorithms of the Swiss Peritoneal Cancer Group for Peritoneal Cancer of Gastrointestinal Origin — M. Adamina, M. Warlaumont, et al. (2022)
• Airborne exposure concentrations during asbestos abatement of ceiling and wall plaster — J.H. Lange, K.W. Thomulka (2002)

Browse more research in Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, or return to medical research.