Asbestos. Laryngeal cancer

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos. Laryngeal cancer, by L. Sánchez Galán (Acta Otorrinolaringologica Española, 2017).

The study

• Author: L. Sánchez Galán
• Journal: Acta Otorrinolaringologica Española
• Published: 2017;68(4):250
• Type of article: Letter
• Language: Spanish
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is a one-page letter to the editor, in Spanish, by an author from Spain's National Social Security Institute in Madrid. It is not a research study and reports no new data. The author reported that laryngeal cancer in workers exposed to asbestos had just been added to Spain's official list of occupational diseases. Royal Decree 1150/2015 of 18 December amended Royal Decree 1299/2006, placing it in annex 1, the table of occupational diseases recognized by Spanish social security. The author explained that, legally, an occupational disease must be contracted as a result of work, be listed, and be linked to particular activities. The list is changed by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security after prior reports from the Ministry of Health and the National Commission for Safety and Health at Work. The author wrote that the change was based on scientific evidence, citing the International Agency for Research on Cancer as recognizing evidence of an association between asbestos exposure and laryngeal cancer, and noted that some European countries already listed it.

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 describing a change in Spanish law; not a research study and no original data
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter concerns workers exposed to asbestos in Spain, in the context of the national list of occupational diseases
• Exposure: Asbestos (amianto) in general. The letter does not name fiber types, jobs or doses
• Main results:
  • Royal Decree 1150/2015 of 18 December amended Royal Decree 1299/2006 of 10 November. It placed laryngeal cancer in asbestos-exposed workers in annex 1, the table of occupational diseases recognized by Spanish social security
  • Under Spanish law, an occupational disease must be contracted as a result of work, must be listed, and must be linked to specific activities
  • Changes to the list are made by the Ministry of Employment and Social Security. They require a prior report from the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality and from the National Commission for Safety and Health at Work
  • The author cited the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), among other international bodies, as recognizing evidence of an association between asbestos exposure and laryngeal cancer
  • Some European countries had already included laryngeal cancer as an occupational disease
  • The letter listed other ear, nose and throat occupational diseases already recognized for certain jobs. These were occupational hearing loss; vocal cord nodules from sustained voice use; rhinoconjunctivitis from certain substances; and nasal cavity or sinus cancers linked to hexavalent chromium, nickel, or hardwood dust
  • Besides improved benefits for affected workers, the author stated that these conditions are subject to special control, especially of registration and prevention measures
• The authors' conclusion: The author stated that the change to the list was based on scientific evidence

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Throat and laryngeal cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Laryngeal Cancer.

Related studies

• Diet and other risk factors for laryngeal cancer in Shanghai, China — W. Zheng, W.J. Blot, et al. (1992)
• Asbestos and laryngeal carcinoma — P.M. Stell, T. McGill (1973)
• Occupational exposure and laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer risk in central and eastern Europe — O. Shangina, P. Brennan, et al. (2006)
• Asbestos, dental X-rays, tobacco, and alcohol in the epidemiology of laryngeal cancer — M.W. Hinds, D.B. Thomas, et al. (1979)
• Exposure to cement dust, related occupational groups and laryngeal cancer risk: results of a population based case-control study — A. Dietz, H. Ramroth, et al. (2004)
• A case-control study of occupational risk factors for laryngeal cancer — P. Wortley, T.L. Vaughan, et al. (1992)

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