Belgium: historical champion in asbestos consumption

Our plain-English summary of Belgium: historical champion in asbestos consumption, by T.S. Nawrot, G. Van Kersschaever, E. Van Eycken, et al (Lancet, 2007).

The study

• Authors: T.S. Nawrot, G. Van Kersschaever, E. Van Eycken, B. Nemery
• Journal: Lancet
• Published: 2007;369(9574):1692
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

This letter responded to an ecological analysis by Lin and colleagues, published in The Lancet on March 10, 2007, that related asbestos consumption in the 1960s to mesothelioma and asbestosis in the early 2000s. Belgium had not been included in that analysis because recent national mortality statistics were lacking. The authors pointed out that Belgium and Luxembourg consumed an average of 53 790 tons of asbestos a year during 1960–70, for a total population of about ten million. They stated that none of the countries Lin and colleagues analysed had a per capita consumption as high. Using cancer mortality data for the Flemish region (about six million inhabitants), they reported 116 mesothelioma deaths in 2000, 143 in 2001, 122 in 2002, 111 in 2003 and 137 in 2004. This gave a yearly average of 126, of whom 106 were men. That corresponded to a crude mortality of about 35 per million men per year, or 20 per million men when standardised as in Lin and colleagues' study. The Belgian Fund for Occupational Diseases recognised 203 asbestosis deaths (197 men) between 2000 and 2004. This gave an asbestosis mortality of about eight per million men per year, which the authors stated was higher than in any of the 33 countries in Lin and colleagues' study. A figure reproduced the original ecological plot with Belgium added.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This was a letter to the editor of The Lancet, not a full study. The authors responded to Lin and colleagues' earlier analysis comparing countries' 1960s asbestos consumption with mesothelioma and asbestosis deaths in the early 2000s, which had left out Belgium for lack of recent national death statistics. The authors reported that Belgium and Luxembourg together used 53 790 tons of asbestos a year on average during 1960–70, for a population of about ten million. They stated that none of the countries in the earlier analysis had per-person consumption that high. Using death statistics for the Flemish region (about six million people), they counted 116, 143, 122, 111 and 137 mesothelioma deaths in 2000 to 2004, a yearly average of 126, of whom 106 were men. This gave about 35 deaths per million men per year, or 20 per million men when standardised as Lin and colleagues had done. The Belgian Fund for Occupational Diseases recognised 203 asbestosis deaths (197 men) in 2000 to 2004. That is about eight per million men per year, which the authors said was higher than in any of the 33 countries in the earlier study.

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 (correspondence) adding Belgian data to a previously published international ecological analysis by Lin and colleagues
• Who was studied: Mesothelioma deaths in the Flemish region of Belgium (about six million inhabitants, 60% of Belgium's population), 2000–2004, and asbestosis deaths recognised by the Belgian Fund for Occupational Diseases, 2000–2004
• Exposure: National asbestos consumption: 53 790 tons per year on average during 1960–70 for Belgium and Luxembourg combined (total population about ten million); fiber types not specified
• Main results:
  • Mesothelioma deaths in the Flemish region: 116 in 2000, 143 in 2001, 122 in 2002, 111 in 2003 and 137 in 2004 (yearly average 126)
  • Of the yearly average, 106 were men: crude mesothelioma mortality of about 35 per million men per year, or 20 per million men when standardised according to Lin and colleagues
  • The Belgian Fund for Occupational Diseases recognised 203 asbestosis deaths (197 men) between 2000 and 2004, about eight per million men per year
  • The authors stated that this asbestosis mortality was higher than in any of the 33 countries in Lin and colleagues' study
• The authors' conclusion: The authors stated that none of the countries in Lin and colleagues' analysis had per capita asbestos consumption as high as Belgium's, and that Belgium's asbestosis mortality was higher than in any of the 33 countries studied

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Occupational Disease.

Related studies

• Ecological association between asbestos-related diseases and historical asbestos consumption: an international analysis — R.T. Lin, K. Takahashi, et al. (2007)
• Treatment patterns and survival analysis in 9014 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma from Belgium, the Netherlands and England — R.A. Damhuis, A. Khakwani, et al. (2015)
• Asbestos in Belgium: an underestimated health risk. The evolution of mesothelioma mortality rates (1969-2009) — L. Van den Borre, P. Deboosere (2014)
• Real-life treatment practice for malignant pleural mesothelioma in Belgium — M. Rosskamp, G. Macq, et al. (2018)
• Assessing the completeness and correctness of the registration of malignant mesothelioma in Belgium — M. Rosskamp, H. De Schutter, et al. (2018)
• Asbestos in Belgium: use and abuse — S.Y. Nay (2003)

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