Port Allegany Asbestos Health Program: a community response to a public health problem

Our plain-English summary of Port Allegany Asbestos Health Program: a community response to a public health problem, by E.C. Holstein, K.W. Deuschle, S. Bosch, et al (Public Health Reports, 1984).

The study

• Authors: E.C. Holstein, K.W. Deuschle, S. Bosch, E. Fischer, A.N. Rohl, I.J. Selikoff
• Journal: Public Health Reports
• Published: 1984;99(2):193-9
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Free full text
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 001696).

Abstract

The Port Allegany Asbestos Health Program (PAAHP) is a unique, community-run program that resulted from the successful cooperative efforts of a labor union, a corporation, community health care providers, and a medical school. PAAHP's goal is to develop a permanent community health organization that will use the most advanced existing knowledge to mitigate the adverse health effects anticipated as a result of the use of amosite asbestos in a Port Allegany, Pa. factory. All 1,188 persons employed by the factory during the years 1964-72 and the 3,000-4,000 persons in household contact with them are eligible for the program. PAAHP's major services are intensive medical surveillance, smoking cessation assistance, health education for participants, and continuing education for area physicians about asbestos-related diseases. One of the program's policies is not to disturb the usual patterns of medical care. If further testing or treatment is needed, patients are referred to their usual personal physicians. PAAHP does not provide ordinary medical care or medical insurance. Across the nation, the number of workers estimated to have been exposed to asbestos is more than 20 million, and their household contacts are estimated to be about three to four times that number. Adverse health effects resulting from asbestos exposure include elevated risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma, gastrointestinal tumors, and asbestosis. The problem requires the development of public health solutions. PAAHP has demonstrated the feasibility of a community-based model as one useful approach.

In plain English

This article described the Port Allegany Asbestos Health Program, a community-run preventive health program in Port Allegany, Pennsylvania, founded in 1981. It was a program report, not a formal research study. A glass factory there made an amosite asbestos product from 1964 to 1972. All 1,188 people employed there in those years, and an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 of their household contacts, were eligible. Services included medical surveillance with chest X-rays and sputum tests, help with quitting smoking, health education, and education for local physicians. Anyone needing further care was referred to their own doctor. The article recounted how the program came about. In 1978, nearly all of 38 workers given thorough examinations had abnormalities consistent with asbestosis. A 1979 local survey of 355 workers and 111 spouses found such abnormalities in a considerable proportion of those examined. A 24-year-old resident whose father worked at the factory died of pleural mesothelioma in 1980. Smoking clinics had short-term success rates of 30-50 percent. The authors concluded that asbestos disease should be viewed as a public health problem and that the program showed a community-based approach is feasible.

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: descriptive report of a community-based preventive health program and its history (not a formal research study)
• Who was studied: All 1,188 people employed at the Port Allegany, Pa. factory at any time in 1964-72 (108 deceased and 118 not yet traced at the time of writing; median age 39 as of January 1, 1983, range 29-83; all white, 95 percent men), plus an estimated 3,000-4,000 household contacts, not yet fully enumerated
• Exposure: Work at a glass products factory that also made an amosite asbestos product in 1964-72. Household contacts were potentially exposed through the workers.
• Main results:
  • In 1978, nearly all of 38 Port Allegany workers given thorough examinations by the Environmental Sciences Laboratory had abnormalities consistent with asbestosis.
  • In the April 1979 field survey, 355 workers and 111 of their spouses took part, 80 percent of potential participants.
  • The 1979 field survey found abnormalities consistent with asbestosis in a considerable proportion of those examined.
  • A 24-year-old resident died of pleural mesothelioma in 1980. He had never worked with asbestos, but his father had worked at the factory from 1964. This was a single case.
  • Smoking cessation clinics held for participants had the usual short-term success rate of 30-50 percent.
  • Examinations occur three times a year for those at greatest risk. Fewer than 10 percent of participants needed this frequency at the time of writing.
  • A mineralogic evaluation of the factory in 1981 confirmed that airborne asbestos was no longer present.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that asbestos-related disease should be viewed as a public health problem. They stated that the program had demonstrated the feasibility of a community-based model as one useful approach.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Amosite, Asbestos Exposure, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Community responses to naturally occurring asbestos: implications for public health practice — M.R. Culley, J. Zorland, et al. (2010)
• Potential public health problems of asbestos in Jamaica — H.O. Reid, I.A. Kahwa (1995)
• The Public Health Value of Opioid Litigation — R.L. Haffajee (2020)
• Environmental factors and human health: fibrous and particulate substance-induced immunological disorders and construction of a health-promoting living environment — T. Otsuki, H. Matsuzaki, et al. (2016)
• Asbestos in High-Risk Communities: Public Health Implications — E.A. Emmett (2021)
• Quality assessment and public health status of harvested rainwater in a peri-urban community in Edo State of Nigeria — I.H. Igbinosa, I.T. Aighewi (2017)

Browse more research in Public Health Reports, or return to medical research.