Asbestos-related disease from household exposure

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related disease from household exposure, by G.R. Epler, M.X. Fitz Gerald, E.A. Gaensler, et al (Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases, 1980).

The study

• Authors: G.R. Epler, M.X. Fitz Gerald, E.A. Gaensler, C.B. Carrington
• Journal: Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases
• Published: 1980;39(4):229-40
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 44 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. 000800).

Abstract

The importance of nonoccupational asbestos exposure has been emphasized recently. To illustrate this problem, we report 4 persons with asbestos-related disease from household exposure. There were 2 wives of asbestos workers, who cleaned their husbands' work clothes. One developed a mesothelioma and the other plaques, calcification, benign asbestos pleural effusion and subpleural parenchymal fibrosis. 2 men were exposed as children while playing in a cellar room which was also used for their father's muffler repair business. At ages 27 and 33, they had pleural and diaphragmatic calcifications.

In plain English

This was a case report of 4 people with asbestos-related disease the authors attributed to household exposure. Two were wives of men who worked in asbestos product factories. The first, a 60-year-old woman who had never smoked and had never been in the plant, had brushed white dust from her husband's work clothes twice weekly for many years. At autopsy she had a mesothelioma involving the left pleural surface, left lung, liver, abdominal cavity and brain, along with hyaline plaques and scattered asbestos bodies. The second woman's only contact with asbestos was cleaning her husband's work clothes. She had a benign asbestos-related effusion, and a biopsy showed subpleural interstitial fibrosis with scattered asbestos bodies. Two brothers, aged 33 and 27, had played as children in a cellar room filled with asbestos sheets and blocks for their father's muffler repair business. Both had diaphragmatic calcifications. The older also had rounded chest-wall plaques, the younger had a chest-wall calcification, and both had normal pulmonary function. The authors concluded that taking exposure histories from family members is even more difficult than taking them from workers.

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: Case report (series of 4 cases)
• Who was studied: 4 family members of asbestos workers: two wives (aged 60 and 56) of asbestos product factory workers, and two brothers (aged 33 and 27). The brothers were shipyard workers seen during a 1978 industrial respiratory survey, and their father was an asbestos worker. The cases were evaluated between 1971 and 1978.
• Exposure: Household exposure. The wives cleaned and brushed dust from their husbands' work clothes. The brothers played as children in a cellar room used for their father's muffler repair business with asbestos sheets. No fiber type was named.
• Main results:
  • Case 1 (60-year-old wife): autopsy showed a mesothelioma involving the left pleural surface, left lung, liver, abdominal cavity and brain.
  • Case 1: the uninvolved pleura had hyaline plaques, and the lung contained scattered asbestos bodies.
  • Case 1: her husband had worked in an asbestos product factory for 23 years. The family lived 23 km from the factory, and the wife had never been in the plant.
  • Case 2 (56-year-old wife): her only contact with asbestos was cleaning her husband's work clothes.
  • Case 2: the authors identified a benign asbestos-related effusion.
  • Case 2: a lung biopsy showed subpleural interstitial fibrosis and scattered asbestos bodies.
  • Case 2: forced vital capacity was 73% of the predicted value.
  • Case 3 (33-year-old brother): calcifications over both diaphragms and well-defined rounded plaques on both lateral chest walls.
  • Case 4 (27-year-old brother): a 3-mm calcification on the left diaphragm, a hairline calcification on the right diaphragm and a 4-cm calcification on the left chest wall.
  • Cases 3 and 4: pulmonary function studies were normal.
  • The brothers' father had bilateral pleural plaques on his chest roentgenogram.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that obtaining exposure histories from people exposed indirectly, such as family members, is even more difficult than taking asbestos exposure histories in general.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis, Lung cancer, Mesothelioma, Pleural plaques and thickening.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma, Benign Asbestos Pleural Effusion, Parenchymal Fibrosis.

Related studies

• Case report: asbestos related pericardial disease — M. Cooper, K. Johnson, et al. (1996)
• Asbestos-related radiographic findings among household contacts of workers exposed to Libby vermiculite: impact of workers' personal hygiene practices — T.J. Hilbert, A. Franzblau, et al. (2013)
• Lung cancer screening in patients with Libby amphibole disease: High yield despite predominantly environmental and household exposure — G. Loewen, B. Black, et al. (2019)
• Relationships of Lower Lung Fibrosis, Pleural Disease, and Lung Mass with Occupational, Household, Neighborhood, and Slate Roof-Dense Area Residential Asbestos Exposure — D. Kang, Y.Y. Kim, et al. (2018)
• Atherosclerotic and pleural calcifications are related among asbestos-exposed workers — T. Vehmas, A. Hiltunen, et al. (2008)
• Asbestos-related pleural plaques — C.K. Lim, Y.F. Chen (2014)

Browse more research in Respiration; International Review of Thoracic Diseases, or return to medical research.