Mesothelioma risk associated with asbestos production in Slovenia

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelioma risk associated with asbestos production in Slovenia, by M. Vudrag, T.K. Rihtar, M. Vegnuti (Arhiv Za Higijenu Rada I Toksikologiju, 2010).

The study

• Authors: M. Vudrag, T.K. Rihtar, M. Vegnuti
• Journal: Arhiv Za Higijenu Rada I Toksikologiju
• Published: 2010;61(1):45-52
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess malignant mesothelioma morbidity due to exposure to asbestos in a population living in districts Nova Gorica and Tolmin (49,850 people) near the asbestos manufacturing village Anhovo (Slovenia) and to compare it with the entire Slovene population (1,949,750 people). Crude rates per 100,000 people were calculated from the total number of mesotheliomas, and risk assessment in the studied vs. total population was based on 23 years worth of data. Time series data on mesothelioma cases were also processed as a forecast of new cases by 2010.The crude incidence of mesothelioma per 100,000 individuals for all of Slovenia was 21.4, while for the Nova Gorica district including the village Anhovo it is 170.2 and for the Tolmin district 60.9. The probability of a mesothelioma case in the studied population was 8.5 times the probability of the same diagnosis in the whole of Slovenia. Over 23 years, 28% of all mesothelioma cases in Slovenia were diagnosed in the studied population, which makes only 2.5% of the total Slovene population.The outbreak of asbestosis and mesothelioma epidemics in the studied population is associated with manufacture of asbestos products in the local factory from 1922 to 1996.

In plain English

This short communication used Slovenia's national cancer registry for 1983 to 2005 to compare mesothelioma in the Nova Gorica and Tolmin districts, which supplied most workers to the Salonit Anhovo asbestos-cement plant, with the whole country. The plant's asbestos was described as more than 98% chrysotile and up to 2% amphiboles. Over the period, Nova Gorica had 101 mesothelioma diagnoses (crude rate 170.2 per 100,000) and Tolmin had 12 (60.9 per 100,000). All of Slovenia had 404 diagnoses (21.4 per 100,000). The study area, described as 49,850 people or about 2.5% of Slovenia's population, had 28% of the country's cases. The authors calculated that a mesothelioma case was 8.5 times more probable in the study population than in the Slovene population. They forecast 27 to 30 cases a year in Slovenia for 2006 to 2010, with wide confidence intervals. The authors concluded that the mesothelioma epidemic in the study population is associated with asbestos use at the factory. They noted that the study did not separate occupationally from non-occupationally exposed people, and that the registry likely missed some cases.

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: Short communication; registry-based comparison of crude mesothelioma rates between a regional population and Slovenia as a whole, with Poisson likelihood calculations and a trend forecast to 2010
• Who was studied: Population of Anhovo and the districts of Nova Gorica and Tolmin, Slovenia (stated as 49,850 people, about 2.5% of the country), 1983 to 2005. These districts supplied most of the Salonit Anhovo workforce. They were compared with the entire Slovene population (stated as 1,949,750 people).
• Exposure: Living in the districts that supplied workers to the Salonit Anhovo asbestos-cement plant, which made asbestos-cement pipes and corrugated sheets. The article describes the plant as using up to 25,000 t of asbestos per year, more than 98% chrysotile and up to 2% amphiboles. Individual exposure was not measured, and occupational and non-occupational exposure were not separated.
• Main results:
  • Mesothelioma diagnoses 1983 to 2005 (Table 1): 101 in Nova Gorica (crude rate 170.2 per 100,000) and 12 in Tolmin (60.9 per 100,000).
  • Crude incidence per 100,000 for the whole of Slovenia, including Nova Gorica and Tolmin, was 21.4 (404 cases in total in Table 1).
  • The study population, about 2.5% of Slovenia's population, accounted for 28% of all mesothelioma cases diagnosed in Slovenia over the 23 years.
  • The probability of one mesothelioma case was calculated to be 8.5 times higher in the study population than in the Slovene population. Table 2 gives 113 cases in the study population and 291 in the comparison column, and a probability of one event of 0.00121292 versus 0.000143.
  • Forecast of mesothelioma cases in Slovenia: 30 in 2006 (95% CI 19 to 46), 27 in 2007 (16 to 42), 29 in 2008 (15 to 51), 28 in 2009 (14 to 51) and 29 in 2010 (13 to 56).
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their findings suggest the mesothelioma epidemic in the study population is associated with asbestos exposure during the years of its use at the Salonit Anhovo factory.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The study does not distinguish occupationally exposed from non-occupationally exposed people.
  • The national cancer registry probably failed to record some cases, for example people who died of another cause or moved away.
  • The forecasts for 2006 to 2010 have low precision because of wide confidence intervals.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma.

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