Ferruginous bodies as markers of environmental exposure to inorganic particles: experience with 270 autopsy cases in Mexico

Our plain-English summary of Ferruginous bodies as markers of environmental exposure to inorganic particles: experience with 270 autopsy cases in Mexico, by F.J. Arenas-Huertero, M. Salazar-Flores, A.R. Osornio-Vargas (Environmental Research, 1994).

The study

• Authors: F.J. Arenas-Huertero, M. Salazar-Flores, A.R. Osornio-Vargas
• Journal: Environmental Research
• Published: 1994;64(1):10-7
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Ferruginous bodies (FB) were quantified in lung digests from 270 autopsy cases over 20 years of age. The cases were autopsied in three different hospitals of the Secretaria de Salud, Mexico, DF. Two hundred seventy samples of peripheral lung tissue were digested in commercial bleach, and all morphologic types of ferruginous bodies were quantified. The results showed that numbers of ferruginous bodies per gram of dry tissue increased over the years: 4.2 FB/g in cases from 1975 to 42.5 FB/g in cases from 1988 (r = 0.86). Higher counts of ferruginous bodies were seen in males, smokers, and Mexico City dwellers. However, more than 70% of them presented less than 100 FB/g. Our study demonstrates that most of our cases had a nonoccupational exposure to fibers.

In plain English

The researchers counted ferruginous bodies in lung tissue from 270 autopsy cases from three Secretaría de Salud hospitals in Mexico, DF. Ferruginous bodies are tiny iron-coated particles whose cores, the article explains, can be asbestos fibers, silicate plates or carbon. Of the cases, one hundred eighty were randomly chosen, in groups of 30 from different years between 1975 and 1988. Another 30 cases each had tuberculosis, bronchogenic carcinoma or interstitial fibrosis. Lung samples were dissolved in commercial bleach, and all types of ferruginous bodies were counted under a light microscope. More than half of the cases had at least 1 body per gram of dry lung. The article's abstract reported 4.2 bodies per gram in 1975 cases and 45.2 per gram in 1988 cases (r = 0.86). Median counts were often higher in males, smokers and Mexico City dwellers, but these differences were not statistically significant. Among cases with occupation data, 81% had 0 to 100 bodies per gram. Nine cases, in categories from blue-collar men to miners, had more than 1000 per gram. The authors concluded that most cases had a nonoccupational exposure to fibers.

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: Autopsy study counting ferruginous bodies in lung tissue digests (cross-sectional comparison of groups and sampling years)
• Who was studied: 270 autopsy cases from three hospitals in Mexico, DF (Instituto Nacional de Cardiología, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Hospital General "Manuel Gea González"). One hundred eighty were randomly selected cases, taken in groups of 30 from different years between 1975 and 1988. A further 30 cases each of tuberculosis, bronchogenic carcinoma and interstitial fibrosis came from INER.
• Exposure: Environmental exposure to inorganic particles, measured as ferruginous bodies of all morphologic types per gram of dry lung tissue. The fiber types in the cores were not reported.
• Main results:
  • More than 50% of the cases had at least 1 ferruginous body per gram of dry lung.
  • In the random samples, counts rose over time, from 4.2 FB/g in 1975 cases to 45.2 FB/g in 1988 cases (r = 0.86 in the abstract; the figure gives r = 0.88).
  • No differences in mean age were seen among the samples from different years.
  • Median concentrations were higher in males than in females, but the differences were not statistically significant.
  • In six samples, median concentrations were higher in smokers than in nonsmokers; the differences were not significant.
  • In six of nine samples, medians were higher in Mexico City dwellers than in countryside residents; the differences were not statistically significant.
  • By occupational category: 194 cases (81%) had 0 to 100 FB/g, 39 (16%) had 100.1 to 1000 FB/g, and 9 (3%) had more than 1000 FB/g.
  • Nine cases, in three categories from blue-collar men to miners, had counts in the occupational exposure range (more than 1000 FB/g).
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that most of their cases had a nonoccupational exposure to fibers.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted that comparing their results with other studies is difficult because studies vary in which lung areas are sampled, in how the counting technique is applied, and in which types of bodies are counted.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Ferruginous body, Environmental Exposure, Autopsy.

Related studies

• Analysis of cores of ferruginous bodies from former asbestos workers — R.F. Dodson, M.F. O'Sullivan, et al. (1982)
• Ferruginous bodies and pulmonary fibrosis in dead low to moderately exposed asbestos cement workers: histological examination — L.G. Johansson, M.P. Albin, et al. (1987)
• Asbestos and other ferruginous bodies: their formation and clinical significance — A.M. Churg, M.L. Warnock (1981)
• Ferruginous bodies: implications in the mechanism of fiber and particle toxicity — A.J. Ghio, A. Churg, et al. (2004)
• Fibrous dust particles and ferruginous bodies. Methods for quantitating them and some results from the lungs of city dwellers — P. Gross, J. Tuma, et al. (1970)
• High incidence of lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma linked to erionite fibre exposure in a rural community in Central Mexico — M.A. Ortega-Guerrero, G. Carrasco-Núñez, et al. (2015)

Browse more research in Environmental Research, or return to medical research.