Cancer Of The Lung In Industry

Our plain-English summary of Cancer Of The Lung In Industry (1955).

The study

• Published: British Medical Journal 2:780-781, September 24 (1955)
• Type of article: Editorial
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 001856.

In plain English

This is an unsigned editorial in the British Medical Journal, not an original study. It reviewed evidence of lung cancer risk in certain industries, mainly a study of asbestos workers by R. Doll. In that study, coroners' necropsy records were available for 105 employees of a large asbestos works who died between 1933 and 1952 and in whom asbestosis was suspected as contributing to death. Lung cancer was found in 18, in 15 of them together with asbestosis. Doll then followed 113 men who had worked at least twenty years where they were liable to be exposed to asbestos dust. By June 1953, 39 had died against 15.4 expected from death rates of all men in England and Wales, including 11 lung cancer deaths against 0.8 expected. The editorial reported that this risk became progressively less as time worked under the old dusty conditions decreased. It also described a South Wales necropsy comparison by W. R. L. James, in which primary lung cancer was found in 3.3% of coal miners and 5.4% of non-miners. It stated there was no evidence that coal dust causes cancer.

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: Unsigned editorial (commentary) summarizing studies by others, chiefly R. Doll's analysis of asbestos works records; no original data
• Who was studied: In Doll's study as described: 105 employees of a large asbestos works who died between 1933 and 1952 with asbestosis suspected as a contributory cause of death, and 113 employees who had worked at least twenty years in dusty areas, compared with the whole male population of England and Wales
• Exposure: Asbestos dust at a large asbestos works (fiber type not stated), with at least twenty years' work where exposure was liable
• Main results:
  • Among the 105 necropsied employees, lung cancer was found in 18, in 15 of them together with asbestosis (Doll's study)
  • All those with both lung cancer and asbestosis had been employed in the industry for at least nine years before 1933, when national dust-reducing regulations had become effective
  • Among the 113 long-term employees, 39 had died up to June 1953, against 15.4 expected (Doll's study)
  • In the same group there were 11 lung cancer deaths, with 0.8 expected
  • In the same group there were 22 deaths from other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, with 7.6 expected
  • The lung cancer risk became progressively less as the length of employment under the old dusty conditions decreased
  • In James's South Wales necropsy comparison of 1,827 coal workers and 1,531 other males aged over 21, primary lung cancer was found in 3.3% of miners and 5.4% of non-miners
• The authors' conclusion: The editorial stated that there was no evidence that coal dust has any cancer-causing effect
• Limitations the authors state:
  • For the coal-miner comparison, the editorial reported James's suggestion that an earlier age at death among men with pneumoconiosis may explain their lower lung cancer rate at necropsy

Topics

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

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