Asbestos-related disease without asbestosis--why not pleural asbestosis?

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related disease without asbestosis--why not pleural asbestosis?, by T. Beritić, S. Kovac (American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1985).

The study

• Authors: T. Beritić, S. Kovac
• Journal: American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1985;8(6):517-20
• Type of article: Editorial
• Cited by: 1 article, 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. 001217).

In plain English

This article was an editorial, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The authors, writing from Zagreb, Yugoslavia, argued that pleural changes caused by asbestos should be called "pleural asbestosis." These are changes in the pleura, the lining around the lungs, such as effusion, plaques, thickening and calcification. They explained that the word "asbestosis" usually meant fibrosis (scarring) inside the lungs. They noted that British authors rejected the term "pleural asbestosis," while some US authors used it. The authors had proposed in 1984 that "asbestosis" should name the kind of disease process, not its site. They gave clinical, epidemiological, pathological and legal grounds for their view, drawing partly on other researchers' published work. They argued that the pleural changes are a disease of their own, not just a sign of exposure. They noted that Yugoslav law certified pleural and lung changes equally. The authors concluded that accepting the term would help sick workers obtain their legal rights more easily.

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 (opinion piece on medical terminology); no new data reported
• Who was studied: No study population. The authors discussed terminology and diagnostic and legal criteria for certifying asbestosis in Yugoslavia, with reference to British and US literature.
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure in general; no specific fiber types, products, jobs or doses were discussed
• Main results:
  • The authors had earlier proposed that "asbestosis" should describe the kind of disease process, not where in the body it occurs.
  • The authors stated that pleural changes caused by asbestos appear to be an independent pleural disease, not merely a sign of exposure or a complication of pulmonary asbestosis.
  • The authors reported that British authors reject the term "pleural asbestosis."
  • The authors reported that Selikoff and colleagues used the terms "pulmonary asbestosis" and "pleural asbestosis."
  • The authors stated that Yugoslav law does not distinguish between pleural and pulmonary changes in asbestosis, or between unilateral and bilateral pleural changes, and certifies them equally.
  • The authors criticized the British proposal's requirement of "sufficient bilateral thickening" for certifying pleural asbestosis as not well founded.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that accepting the term "pleural asbestosis" would match clinical and scientific observations and would help sick workers obtain their legal rights more easily.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Asbestos related diseases without asbestosis — D. Davies (1983)
• Asbestos-related pleural disease and asbestosis: a comparison of CT and chest radiography — A.C. Friedman, S.B. Fiel, et al. (1988)
• Pulmonary function in asbestosis and asbestos-related pleural disease — A. Miller (1993)
• Lung crackle characteristics in patients with asbestosis, asbestos-related pleural disease and left ventricular failure using a time-expanded waveform analysis--a comparative study — N. al Jarad, S.W. Davies, et al. (1994)
• Worker-sponsored survey for asbestosis: detection of occupational lung disease without a control group — D.H. Wegman, G.P. Theriault, et al. (1973)
• The additional risk of malignant mesothelioma in former workers and residents of Wittenoom with benign pleural disease or asbestosis — A. Reid, N. de Klerk, et al. (2005)

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