Home interviews with relatives of deceased persons: a means of obtaining histories of exposure to a hazardous substance

Our plain-English summary of Home interviews with relatives of deceased persons: a means of obtaining histories of exposure to a hazardous substance, by A. Finlayson, J. McEwen, A. Mair (Scottish Medical Journal, 1971).

The study

• Authors: A. Finlayson, J. McEwen, A. Mair
• Journal: Scottish Medical Journal
• Published: 1971;16(12):509-12
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This paper described how the authors traced and interviewed relatives of deceased people for a 1967-69 retrospective study of mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in Scotland, whose detailed findings were reported in a separate paper. It covered 80 people confirmed as having died of mesothelioma in Scotland between 1950 and 1967 (73 male, 7 female) and 157 controls, matched for sex and age, who had died of bronchial or gastric carcinoma or cardiovascular disease. A single interviewer, who did not know whether a subject was a patient or a control, collected work, residence and smoking histories, mostly at home. Tracing an informant was difficult in about 42% of cases and gaining co-operation in about 25%. Definite exposure to asbestos at work was found for 25 per cent of mesothelioma patients compared with approximately 1.5 per cent of controls. The authors concluded that informants could be traced for a very high proportion of subjects and that the information confirmed the association between mesothelioma and occupational exposure to asbestos in Scotland. They noted that complex work histories were hard to recall and information on women was poorer.

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: Methods report from a retrospective study comparing deceased mesothelioma patients with matched deceased controls. Histories were obtained by interviewing relatives, mostly in their homes.
• Who was studied: The study covered 80 people confirmed as having died of mesothelioma in Scotland between 1950 and 1967 (73 male, 7 female; aged 28 to 87 at death). Each patient was matched for sex and age with two controls from the same hospitals' post-mortem records: one who had died of bronchial or gastric carcinoma and one who had died of cardiovascular disease. Information came from relatives, or from neighbours in 7 cases.
• Exposure: Asbestos exposure assessed from interview histories under three headings: occupational, domestic and residential. Residential exposure meant living near shipbuilding, docks or asbestos factories. Fiber types were not specified.
• Main results:
  • The final population for whom information was obtained was 80 mesothelioma patients and 157 controls.
  • Relatives of 18 possible controls refused co-operation; substitute controls were obtained for them.
  • All interviews were done by one interviewer who did not know whether the subject was a mesothelioma patient or a control.
  • About one-third of interviews had no difficulties. For the rest there were difficulties tracing an informant (about 42%) or obtaining co-operation (about 25%), and occasionally both.
  • Relatives could not be found for 10 subjects (4%). For 7 of these (2 mesothelioma patients and 5 controls), neighbours who had known the subject well supplied basic information.
  • Definite evidence of exposure to asbestos at work was found for 25 per cent of mesothelioma patients, compared with approximately 1.5 per cent of controls.
  • When probable and possible exposure were included, the comparison between mesothelioma patients and controls for all degrees of exposure showed a highly significant difference.
  • Significantly more mesothelioma patients than either control group had lived within half a mile of possible sources of asbestos (shipbuilding, docks or asbestos factories). Most of them also had occupational exposure, which the authors considered more relevant.
  • For one female patient, the evidence suggested a possibility of domestic exposure from asbestos dust on her husband's overalls.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, despite extensive population movements, relatives and other informants could still be traced for a very high proportion of people who had died up to 18 years earlier, and that most were willing and able to give useful information. They concluded that this information confirmed the association between mesothelioma and occupational exposure to asbestos in Scotland.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Some male subjects had complex work histories that relatives had difficulty recalling in detail, especially semi-skilled and unskilled workers with many jobs.
  • For the 7 female patients and their controls, the information obtained was somewhat inferior to that for male subjects.
  • Where informants were reluctant, some interviews had to be limited to the minimum basic questions.

Topics

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

Related studies

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• Asbestos Burden in Lungs of Subjects Deceased From Mesothelioma Who Lived in Proximity to an Asbestos Factory: A Topographic Post-Mortem SEM-EDS Study — S.D. Visonà, M. Untalan, et al. (2025)
• Mesothelioma in Scotland — J. McEwen, A. Finlayson, et al. (1970)
• Prevalence of pleural calcification in persons exposed to asbestos dust, and in the general population in the same district — M. Navrátil, F. Trippé (1972)
• Detailed occupational history: the cornerstone in diagnosis of asbestos-related lung disease — R. Bégin, J.W. Christman (2001)

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