Environmental and occupational risk factors for lung cancer

Our plain-English summary of Environmental and occupational risk factors for lung cancer, by I. Brüske-Hohlfeld (Methods in Molecular Biology, 2009).

The study

• Author: I. Brüske-Hohlfeld
• Journal: Methods in Molecular Biology
• Published: 2009;472:3-23
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 39 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Lung cancer is the world's leading cause of cancer death. It is primarily due to the inhalation of carcinogens and highly accessible to prevention by diminishing exposures to lung carcinogens. Most important will be the complete cessation of exposure to cigarette smoke (first and second hand) and to asbestos. Two environmental exposures--radon in homes and arsenic in drinking water--cannot be totally avoided, but people in certain geographical regions would greatly benefit from a reduction in exposure magnitude. And last but not least, workers all over the world deserve that preventive measures at the workplace are observed with regard to exposures, such as arsenic, beryllium, bis-chloromethyl ether (BCME), cadmium, chromium, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and nickel.

In plain English

This single-author book chapter was a narrative review, not an original study. It summarized published evidence on environmental and occupational causes of lung cancer that the International Agency for Research on Cancer classes as Group 1 lung carcinogens. Among them were arsenic, asbestos, radon, silica, several metals and chemicals, and active and passive smoking. On asbestos, it cited a mortality follow-up of 17,800 US and Canadian asbestos insulation workers. That study found a twofold increase in lung cancer 10 to 14 years after initial employment, reaching nearly sixfold at 30 to 34 years. The chapter also cited a prediction that mesothelioma deaths among men in Western Europe would rise from just over 5,000 a year in 1998 to about 9,000 a year in 2018. It noted a Quebec study that found no measurable excess of lung cancer deaths among women in two chrysotile mining areas. It said the contribution of low-dose environmental asbestos to lung cancer in the general population is not known. The author concluded that lung cancer is highly preventable, and that ending exposure to cigarette smoke and asbestos would matter most.

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: Narrative review (book chapter) of published evidence on environmental and occupational risk factors for lung cancer; no original data
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the chapter reviewed published studies and IARC evaluations
• Exposure: IARC Group 1 lung carcinogens: arsenic, asbestos, beryllium, bis-chloromethyl ether, cadmium, chromium (VI), nickel, radon, silica, and active and passive smoking; particulate air pollution and diesel motor emissions were also discussed. For asbestos the chapter named chrysotile, anthophyllite, crocidolite, amosite and tremolite as the fibers of industrial use.
• Main results:
  • Cited study (Selikoff and colleagues, mortality follow-up of 17,800 US and Canadian asbestos insulation workers): a twofold increase in lung cancer 10 to 14 years after initial employment, reaching nearly sixfold 30 to 34 years after employment
  • The chapter stated that asbestos-induced lung cancer generally has a latency of 20 years or longer from start of exposure
  • Cited prediction (Peto et al.): mesothelioma deaths among men in Western Europe would rise from just over 5,000 per year in 1998 to about 9,000 per year in 2018
  • The chapter stated that the number of lung cancer deaths caused by asbestos is at least equal to the number of mesothelioma deaths
  • Cited worldwide projection: at least 100,000 workers die each year from asbestos exposure resulting in cancer
  • Cited study (Camus and co-workers): no measurable excess of lung cancer deaths among women in two chrysotile asbestos-mining areas in Quebec
  • Cited case series (Schneider and co-workers): six fatal pleural mesotheliomas in five wives and one son of asbestos industry workers
  • The chapter stated that the contribution of low-dose environmental asbestos exposure to lung cancer in the general population is not known
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that lung cancer is highly accessible to prevention by reducing exposure to known lung carcinogens, and that the most important step would be complete cessation of exposure to cigarette smoke (first and second hand) and to asbestos

Topics

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

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

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• Evaluation of asbestos exposure in the working environment. Recommendation of subcommittee on asbestosis of the permanent commission and international association on occupational health — (1972)
• An air quality data analysis system for interrelating effects, standards, and needed source reductions: Part 13--Applying the EPA Proposed Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment to a set of asbestos lung cancer mortality data — R.I. Larsen (2003)
• Occupational risk factors for lung cancer in women: results of a case-control study in Germany — I. Jahn, W. Ahrens, et al. (1999)

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