Airborne environmental exposure to asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Airborne environmental exposure to asbestos, by A. Hansell (American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2008).

The study

• Author: A. Hansell
• Journal: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• Published: 2008;178(6):556-7
• Type of article: Comment, Editorial
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is an editorial, not an original study. The author commented on a separate study by Kurumatani and Kumagai, published in the same journal issue. That study examined cases of mesothelioma in Amagasaki City, Japan, linked to a former asbestos cement pipe factory. The plant used crocidolite and chrysotile asbestos between 1957 and 1975, and chrysotile into the late 1980s. The author wrote that the main exposure route from the plant was almost certainly airborne. The study's estimates of distance and dispersion, which took wind direction and air stability into account, suggested an excess mesothelioma risk that declined with distance from the factory. The author added that the study suggested environmental exposure risks were higher in women. The author pointed out weaknesses: problems estimating the historical population at risk, likely underrecognition of cases, and unusual groupings of asbestos concentration. The author judged serious bias unlikely. The author also wrote that the study's observed cutoff of excess risk at 2.2 km cannot be generalized without quantitative measures of population exposure. The author concluded that the study substantiates airborne exposure as a cause of community asbestos-related disease many years later.

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: Editorial commenting on another study (Kurumatani and Kumagai) published in the same journal issue; no new data
• Who was studied: The editorial discusses the Kurumatani and Kumagai study of mesothelioma cases in Amagasaki City, Japan, linked to a former asbestos cement pipe factory; the editorial gives no case count
• Exposure: Neighborhood (non-occupational) exposure to asbestos from the factory, which used crocidolite and chrysotile from 1957 to 1975 and chrysotile into the late 1980s; the discussed study treated 1957–1975 as the key exposure period
• Main results:
  • The editorial author wrote that the main exposure route from the Amagasaki plant was almost certainly airborne
  • According to the editorial, the discussed study estimated distance and dispersion from the factory, taking wind direction and air stability into account, and this suggested an excess mesothelioma risk that declined with distance
  • The editorial author wrote that the discussed study, consistent with other studies, suggests environmental exposure risks are higher in women
  • The discussed study observed a cutoff of excess risk at 2.2 km; the editorial author wrote that this is not generalizable without quantitative measures of population asbestos exposure
• The authors' conclusion: The editorial author concluded that the Amagasaki study substantiates the airborne exposure route as a cause of community asbestos-related disease many years later
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The editorial author noted that the discussed study had problems estimating the historical population at risk
  • The editorial author noted likely underrecognition of cases in the discussed study, but judged serious bias unlikely
  • The editorial author wrote that the study's groupings of asbestos concentration were nonintuitive and that alternative groupings could affect the exposure maps and, potentially, the exposure-response function

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Environmental Exposure.

Related studies

• Environmental airborne tremolite asbestos pollution and pleural plaques in Afghanistan — C. Voisin, I. Marin, et al. (1994)
• Mapping the risk of mesothelioma due to neighborhood asbestos exposure — N. Kurumatani, S. Kumagai (2008)
• Environmental asbestotic pleural plaques in northeast Corsica: correlations with airborne and pleural mineralogic analysis — F. Rey, C. Boutin, et al. (1994)
• Evidence and reconstruction of airborne asbestos from unconventional environmental samples — J.S. Webber, M. Getman, et al. (2006)
• Airborne fiber concentration and size distribution of mineral fibers in area with serpentinite outcrops in Aichi prefecture, Japan — K. Sakai, N. Hisanaga, et al. (2001)
• Asbestos related diseases in Italy: an integrated approach to identify unexpected professional or environmental exposure risks at municipal level — A. Marinaccio, A. Scarselli, et al. (2008)

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