Pulmonary asbestos and non-asbestos fiber concentrations in autopsied inhabitants in Pohang, Korea

Our plain-English summary of Pulmonary asbestos and non-asbestos fiber concentrations in autopsied inhabitants in Pohang, Korea, by H.S. Lim, J.Y. Kim, K. Sakai, et al (Industrial Health, 2004).

The study

• Authors: H.S. Lim, J.Y. Kim, K. Sakai, N. Hisanaga
• Journal: Industrial Health
• Published: 2004;42(2):163-70
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

To establish reference values for pulmonary asbestos and non-asbestos fiber concentrations in rural Korean residents, and their comparison with those of urban Korean residents and the Japanese, autopsied lung samples from 22 subjects (20 males and 2 females), in Pohang, without known occupational asbestos exposure histories, were analyzed for asbestos and non-asbestos fibers, using transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer. Chrysotile was the major fiber type found in the lungs of the subjects. The residents in Pohang had significantly lower asbestos and non-asbestos fiber concentrations than the Korean urban residents. The Koreans had significantly lower asbestos and non-asbestos fiber concentrations than the Japanese.

In plain English

Using electron microscopy, this study measured asbestos and other mineral fibers in autopsy lung tissue from 22 residents of Pohang, Korea (20 males, 2 females). None had known occupational asbestos exposure; most died in accidents. Chrysotile was found in 14 subjects (64%) and amphibole asbestos in 7 (32%): amosite in 2, tremolite in 5 and actinolite in 2. Geometric mean asbestos concentrations were 0.09 million fibers per gram of dry lung in males and 0.3 million in the two females. All chrysotile fibers were under 2.9 µm long; 21% of asbestos fibers exceeded 5 µm. Concentrations did not differ significantly by age. Using earlier data from Sakai and colleagues, the authors found significantly lower asbestos and non-asbestos concentrations in Pohang men than in urban Korean men. Urban Korean men and women, and Pohang men, also had significantly lower concentrations than Japanese of the same sex and area; differences for the two Pohang women were not marked significant. The authors attributed the Korea–Japan difference to Japan's longer asbestos use. They noted the small sample and missing occupational and residential histories.

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 lung fiber-burden study of autopsy lung tissue, analyzed by transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, with comparison to previously published Korean and Japanese data
• Who was studied: 22 autopsied residents of Pohang, Korea (20 males with mean age at death 38.6 years, 2 female housewives with mean age 52.0), mostly accident deaths, without known occupational asbestos exposure histories; dates of the autopsies are not stated
• Exposure: No known occupational asbestos exposure; the study measured background lung content of asbestos (chrysotile, amosite, tremolite, actinolite) and non-asbestos fibers
• Main results:
  • Chrysotile was the most common asbestos type, found in 14 of 22 subjects (64%)
  • Amphibole asbestos was found in 7 of 22 subjects (32%): amosite in 2 (9%), tremolite in 5 (23%), actinolite in 2 (9%)
  • Geometric mean asbestos concentrations were 0.09 million fibers/g dry lung in males and 0.3 million in females; non-asbestos concentrations were 4.61 million in males and 17.79 million in females. The authors reported the female values as significantly greater (only 2 females).
  • Aluminum silicate made up 57.9% of non-asbestos fibers and was found in every subject
  • No statistically significant difference in fiber concentrations by age group
  • 21% of asbestos fibers were longer than 5 µm; all chrysotile fibers were shorter than 2.9 µm
  • Among Korean males without known occupational exposure, urban (Seoul) residents had significantly more asbestos than Pohang (small city) residents. In Table 8, Pohang males had 0.09 (less than 0.04 to 0.98) million asbestos fibers/g dry lung against 0.25 (0.03 to 2.41) million for urban Korean males. Table 8 marks no such difference for the two Pohang females.
  • Japanese males and females had more asbestos than Korean males and females without known occupational exposure histories (p less than 0.05). Table 8 marks the Korea–Japan differences as significant (p less than 0.01) for urban Korean men, urban Korean women and Pohang (rural) men, but gives no significance mark for the two Pohang women.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that Koreans had significantly lower lung fiber concentrations than Japanese, which they attributed to Japan's longer use of asbestos. They stated that their data would be useful for establishing Korean reference values.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Autopsy records lacked past occupational histories, so past occupations and residences could not be traced
  • Small number of subjects
  • The Japanese comparison subjects were about 20 years older at death than the Koreans; the authors call for a larger study

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure, Chrysotile.

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