Asbestos Bodies Burden in the Autopsy Lung Tissue from General Thai Population

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos Bodies Burden in the Autopsy Lung Tissue from General Thai Population, by P. Incharoen, T. Hama, L. Arsa, et al (The Open Respiratory Medicine Journal, 2019).

The study

• Authors: P. Incharoen, T. Hama, L. Arsa, K. Kamprerasart, S. Wongwichai, S. Bovornkitti
• Journal: The Open Respiratory Medicine Journal
• Published: 2019;13:5-10
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Background: Chrysotile asbestos has been used in Thailand for over 30 years mainly in asbestos-cement wall and roof tiles. In non-exposed subject, asbestos fiber can contaminate in ambient indoor and outdoor environments.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the current prevalence and volume of AB load in general Thai population.

Methods: Lung tissues were obtained from 200 autopsy cases. Asbestos Bodies (AB) were identified with light microscopy using the tissue digestion and membrane filtration method. Results are reported as AB/g wet lung tissue.

Results: AB was identified in 97(48.5%) out of 200 cases. The AB level ranged from 0.19-14.4 AB/g wet lung. Most of the positive cases (99%) have less than 10 AB/g wet lung. Only one case exhibited a high value at 14.4 AB/g wet lung. Age, gender, occupation and hometown were found to have no effect on AB burden in autopsy lung tissue from this study.

Conclusion: The prevalence of AB in autopsy lung tissue from general Thai population is 48.5% and the AB level ranges from 0-14.4 AB/g wet lung in consistent with non-occupational asbestos exposure level regarding several reference reports.

© 2019 Bentham Science Publishers.

In plain English

This study counted asbestos bodies in lung tissue from 200 autopsies. The autopsies were done at the Department of Pathology, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, between September 2015 and September 2016, and were meant to represent the general Thai population. Of the 200 people, 136 were male and 64 female, aged 3 months to 88 years. Asbestos bodies were found in 97 of the 200 cases (48.5%): in 46% of males and 53% of females. Among the 97 positive cases, levels ranged from 0.19 to 14.4 asbestos bodies per gram of wet lung. Of these, 73 had fewer than 1, 23 had 1 to 10, and one, a 60-year-old man, had 14.4. The mean was 1.14 and the median 0.4. No asbestos bodies were found in children under 1 year; the youngest positive case was 1.5 years old. Levels showed no significant link with age, sex, indoor versus outdoor work, or living in Bangkok versus other provinces. The article does not report which fiber types the bodies contained. The authors concluded the levels were consistent with non-occupational exposure levels in reference reports. They noted that occupation and residence data came only from autopsy reports and did not include how long each lasted.

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: Autopsy study counting asbestos bodies in lung tissue (tissue digestion and membrane filtration, light microscopy)
• Who was studied: 200 autopsy cases from the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, September 2015 to September 2016; 136 male and 64 female, aged 3 months to 88 years. Occupation data were available for 149 cases and residential data for 175.
• Exposure: General-population (non-occupational) exposure, measured as asbestos bodies per gram of wet lung. Bodies were counted under a light microscope after sodium hypochlorite digestion and filtration. Fiber types within the bodies were not reported. As background, the article states chrysotile is the only asbestos type currently allowed in Thailand.
• Main results:
  • Asbestos bodies were found in 97 of 200 cases (48.5%)
  • Asbestos bodies were found in 46% of male and 53% of female subjects
  • Among the 97 positive cases, levels ranged from 0.19 to 14.4 AB/g wet lung. 73 cases (75.3%) had fewer than 1 AB/g wet lung, 23 cases (23.7%) had 1 to 10, and one case (1%) had more than 10.
  • In the 97 positive cases, the mean was 1.14 and the median 0.4 AB/g wet lung
  • The highest level, 14.4 AB/g wet lung, was in a 60-year-old male general employee who lived in Bangkok
  • No asbestos bodies were found in subjects under 1 year old. The youngest positive case was 1.5 years old, with 1.7 AB/g wet lung.
  • Among positive cases, there was no correlation between age and AB/g wet lung (r = 0.18)
  • Among positive cases, mean levels did not differ significantly by sex (male 1.29, female 1.05; p = 0.74), by indoor versus outdoor occupation (1.17 versus 1.25; p = 0.88), or by Bangkok versus other provinces (1.55 versus 0.86; p = 0.12)
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that asbestos bodies were present in 48.5% of autopsy lungs from the general Thai population, at levels they considered consistent with non-occupational exposure levels in several reference reports. They also concluded that no significant correlation with age, gender or occupation was found.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The data were limited: occupation and residence information came only from autopsy reports and lacked actual duration

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Bodies, Autopsy, Chrysotile, Asbestos-Cement, Tissue Digestion, Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

• Asbestos fibers and pleural plaques in a general autopsy population — A. Churg (1982)
• Asbestos Lung Burden in Necroscopic Samples from the General Population of Milan, Italy — M. Casali, M. Carugno, et al. (2015)
• Analysis of the cores of asbestos bodies from members of the general population: patients with probable low-degree exposure to asbestos — A. Churg, M.L. Warnock (1979)
• Asbestos bodies in human lungs at autopsy — D. Cauna, R.S. Totten, et al. (1965)
• Relationship between number of asbestos bodies in autopsy lung and pleural plaques on chest X-ray film — T. Kishimoto, T. Ono, et al. (1989)
• Ferruginous bodies as markers of environmental exposure to inorganic particles: experience with 270 autopsy cases in Mexico — F.J. Arenas-Huertero, M. Salazar-Flores, et al. (1994)

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