Lung Cancer In Asbestosis

Our plain-English summary of Lung Cancer In Asbestosis (1955).

The study

• Published: Lancet 268(6875):1163, June 4 (1955)
• Type of article: Editorial
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 001867.

In plain English

This unsigned Lancet editorial annotation reported no new study; it summarized others' published work on lung cancer in asbestos workers. Doll, examining causes of death in 105 people employed at one asbestos works, found 18 had had lung cancer, 15 with asbestosis. Among 113 men who had worked at least twenty years in places exposed to asbestos dust, Doll found 39 deaths where 15.4 were expected. These included 11 lung cancer deaths against 0.8 expected; the average risk was of the order of ten times that of the general population. In a series of 1205 lung specimens with dust diseases, including 121 of asbestosis, Gloyne reported primary lung neoplasm rates of 20% in male and 10% in female asbestos workers. Barnett found 31 lung cancer deaths among 235 asbestosis-associated deaths during the years 1924–46; the annotation questioned why rates differed between the sexes. It noted that, unlike asbestosis, the main dust diseases of the lungs were not associated with more lung cancer. It said there was no satisfactory explanation of why asbestos fibres should affect the epithelium.

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 annotation (commentary) summarizing other published studies, chiefly Doll (1955); no original research
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. It discussed Doll's study of 105 deaths among people employed at one asbestos works, and Doll's mortality comparison of 113 men with at least twenty years in places exposed to asbestos dust against the whole male population. It also cited lung-specimen and death series by Gloyne and Barnett.
• Exposure: Occupational exposure to asbestos dust in the studies discussed; no fiber type is named
• Main results:
  • Doll's study (as reported here): of 105 people who had been employed in one asbestos works whose causes of death were examined, 18 had had lung cancer, 15 of them with asbestosis
  • Doll's study (as reported here): among the 113 men with at least twenty years in asbestos-dust-exposed places there were 39 deaths, compared with 15.4 expected. These included 11 lung cancer deaths, compared with 0.8 expected.
  • Doll's study (as reported here): the same group had 22 deaths from other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, compared with 7.6 expected
  • Doll's study (as reported here): the average risk among men employed twenty or more years was of the order of ten times that of the general population
  • Gloyne (as cited): in a series of 1205 lung specimens with dust diseases, including 121 of asbestosis, the rates for primary lung neoplasm were 20% in male and 10% in female asbestos workers
  • Barnett (as cited): 31 deaths with lung carcinoma among 235 deaths associated with asbestosis during the years 1924–46, with a distribution of 17.2% male and 8.4% female deaths
  • The annotation judged that adjusting for length of exposure and age at death would scarcely account for the difference between the sexes
  • The annotation stated that, unlike asbestosis, the main dust diseases of the lungs are not associated with increased lung carcinoma. As support it cited James's comparison of South Wales coalminers (3.3%) with non-miners in the same area (5.4%).
• The authors' conclusion: The annotation stated that dust diseases generally act on connective tissue and that there is no satisfactory explanation of why asbestos fibres should also affect the epithelium

Topics

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

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