Carcinogens in the construction industry

Our plain-English summary of Carcinogens in the construction industry, by B. Järvholm (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2006).

The study

• Author: B. Järvholm
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Published: 2006;1076:421-8
• Cited by: 11 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The construction industry is a complex work environment. The work sites are temporary and rapidly changing. Asbestos has been widely used in construction industry, but the risks were primarily detected in specialized trades, such as insulation workers and plumbers. Today, the majority of cases related to asbestos exposure will occur in other occupational groups in the construction industry. In a large cohort of Swedish construction workers, insulators and plumbers constituted 37% of all cases of pleural mesothelioma between 1975 and 1984 while they constituted 21% of the cases between 1998 and 2002. It is estimated that 25-40% of all male cases of pleural mesothelioma in Sweden are caused by asbestos exposure in the construction trades. There are many other known carcinogens occurring in the construction industry, including PAHs, diesel exhausts, silica, asphalt fumes, solvents, etc., but it is difficult to estimate exposures and thus the size of the risk. The risk of cancer is less easy to detect with traditional epidemiological methods in the construction industry than in other industrial sectors. It is not sufficient to rely upon broad epidemiological data to estimate the risk of cancer due chemicals in the construction industry. Thus, a strategy to decrease exposure, e.g., to dust, seems a feasible way to reduce the risk.

In plain English

This article was a review by a single author of cancer-causing agents in the construction industry. It drew mostly on earlier studies by others. It also presented data from a Swedish cohort of construction workers who had health examinations through Bygghälsan between 1971 and 1993, linked with the Swedish Cancer Register to find cases of pleural mesothelioma. Between 1975 and 1984 there were 38 cases in the cohort, of which 14 (37%) were insulation workers and plumbers. Between 1998 and 2002 the cohort had 108 cases, about 20–25% of all male pleural mesothelioma cases in Sweden. About 20% of these cohort cases were plumbers and insulation workers, with similar numbers among concrete workers, carpenters and electricians. The author considered those three groups probably indirectly exposed. The author estimated that 25–40% of all male pleural mesothelioma cases in Sweden had a considerable part of their asbestos exposure in the construction trades and that this exposure caused their disease. The author also discussed silica, diesel exhaust, radon, asphalt fumes and other agents, noting that exposure is hard to estimate. The author concluded that reducing overall dust levels would also reduce exposure to carcinogens.

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: Review and commentary article on carcinogens in the construction industry, including data from a Swedish construction worker cohort linked to the national cancer register
• Who was studied: Swedish construction workers who took part in Bygghälsan health examinations between 1971 and 1993 (estimated to include more than 80% of Swedish construction workers in that period), linked with the Swedish Cancer Register for pleural mesothelioma; 38 cases from 1975 to 1984 and 108 cases from 1998 to 2002
• Exposure: Asbestos (fiber type not specified) in construction trades, for example insulation work on pipes, spraying, and plumbing on asbestos-insulated pipes; also indirect exposure from working where others handled asbestos. Other agents discussed include silica, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hexavalent chromium, diesel exhaust, radon and asphalt fumes
• Main results:
  • Between 1975 and 1984 the cohort had 38 pleural mesothelioma cases, of which 14 (37%) occurred among insulation workers and plumbers
  • Between 1998 and 2002, construction workers in the cohort made up about 20–25% of all male cases of pleural mesothelioma in Sweden
  • Of the 108 pleural mesothelioma cases in the cohort between 1998 and 2002, about 20% were plumbers and insulation workers
  • Concrete workers, carpenters and electricians had similar numbers of cases; the author considered these groups probably indirectly exposed to asbestos
  • The author estimated that 25–40% of all male cases of pleural mesothelioma in Sweden had a considerable part of their asbestos exposure in the construction trades and that this exposure caused their disease
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that construction workers will continue to be exposed to carcinogens, and that focusing on reducing overall dust concentrations would also reduce exposure to carcinogens
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Not all construction workers were included in the cohort, so the 25–40% figure is an estimate extrapolated from the cohort's 20–25% share
  • Epidemiology in the construction trades is difficult, mainly because exposure is hard to estimate

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Insulator, Asbestos Exposure, Pleural Mesothelioma.

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• Exposure to carcinogens for defined job categories in Norway's offshore petroleum industry, 1970 to 2005 — K. Steinsvåg, M. Bråtveit, et al. (2007)
• War on Carcinogens: industry disputes human relevance of chemicals causing cancer in laboratory animals based on unproven hypotheses, using kidney tumors as an example — R.L. Melnick, J.M. Ward, et al. (2013)
• Protest and survive, the U.K. Construction Safety Campaign: a case study of workers' and victims' family action and legal and regulatory inaction on construction health and safety — M. Holder, T. O'Brien (2007)

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