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

Our plain-English summary of 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, by E. Merler, P. Ricci (Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 1989).

The study

• Authors: E. Merler, P. Ricci
• Journal: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health
• Published: 1989;15(6):439-40
• Type of article: Comment
• 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 no. 000129).

In plain English

In this letter to the editor, Merler and Ricci commented on Minder and Vader's 1988 study of malignant pleural mesothelioma among Swiss furniture workers. It was not a formal epidemiologic study but described observations from the writers' ongoing Italian case search. The letter restated the original odds ratio of 3.2 and standardized mortality ratio of 271 for furniture workers, both from 12 death certificates, 1975 to 1985. Minder and Vader had judged that the data did not support asbestos as a risk factor after reviewing occupational histories of seven furniture-worker cases from 1979 to 1982. The letter writers argued that woodworkers at two railway car construction and repair plants were clearly exposed to asbestos. Excluding some of them (two furniture workers, four carpenters) would, they said, strongly reduce both measures toward unity. They cited a personal communication that 15 of 160 mesothelioma cases were among woodworkers in railroad shops. Their search had found around 60 mesotheliomas among railroad workers; four of 26 cases known to have worked in railroad shops were furniture workers. They concluded the original inquiry into asbestos exposure was incomplete.

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 study (Minder and Vader, 1988), including observations from the letter writers' ongoing case search; not a formal epidemiologic study
• Who was studied: No formal study population. The letter discusses the Swiss furniture-worker mesothelioma deaths in Minder and Vader's study, and describes the letter writers' ongoing search for mesothelioma cases among railroad workers in Italy since 1975
• Exposure: Asbestos (fiber type not specified) in railway car construction and repair. It was used on and removed from steam locomotives and, for the most part, used as insulation in passenger carriages
• Main results:
  • The letter restated Minder and Vader's figures for Swiss furniture workers, deaths 1975 to 1985: odds ratio 3.2 and standardized mortality ratio 271, both based on 12 death certificates
  • Minder and Vader's judgment that the data did not support asbestos as a risk factor followed a review of the occupational histories of all seven furniture-worker cases from the first four years, 1979 to 1982
  • The letter writers argued that the cases clearly exposed to asbestos were those classified as woodworkers in two (not one) railway car construction and repair plants
  • The letter writers stated that excluding two furniture workers ('Schreiner') and four carpenters ('Zimmermann') from these plants would strongly reduce the odds ratio and standardized mortality ratio toward unity
  • Citing a personal communication from Rüttner, the letter reported that 15 of 160 mesothelioma cases, collected in a partially overlapping period, occurred among woodworkers employed in railroad shops
  • In the letter writers' Italian case search, around 60 mesothelioma cases were found among railroad workers
  • Among the 26 persons with mesothelioma currently known to have worked in Italian railroad shops, four were furniture workers. Environmental data suggested that these workers' asbestos exposure was among the highest compared with other tasks
  • The letter writers stated that the exclusion of 'general carpenters' from the exposed group probably needs to be revised
• The authors' conclusion: The letter writers concluded that the inquiry into asbestos exposure in Minder and Vader's study was incomplete. In their view, the data were insufficiently examined to exclude asbestos exposure as the cause of the excess mesotheliomas
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The Italian mesothelioma cases were collected without a specific epidemiologic study

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Mesothelioma among Swiss furniture workers — G. Schüler, J.R. Rüttner (1989)
• Extended mortality follow-up among men and women in a U.S. furniture workers union — B.A. Miller, A. Blair, et al. (1994)
• Occupational carcinogenesis. High-risk industrial groups: identification, education, and surveillance. Tyler Asbestos Workers Program — S.D. Greenberg, G.A. Hurst, et al. (1976)
• Surveillance of high-risk groups--a survey of asbestos workers: the present position in the United Kingdom — W.J. Smither (1979)
• Correction: Saito et al. Sex-Specific Mortality from Asbestos-Related Diseases, Lung and Ovarian Cancer in Municipalities with High Asbestos Consumption, Brazil, 2000-2017. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 3656 — C.A. Saito, M.A. Bussacos, et al. (2022)
• Mesothelioma in Swiss railroad workers — J.R. Rüttner (1991)

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