Registry of Diseases Caused by Asbestos. The Importance of Knowing the Scale of the Problem

Our plain-English summary of Registry of Diseases Caused by Asbestos. The Importance of Knowing the Scale of the Problem, by J. Ferrer Sancho (Archivos de Bronconeumología, 2020).

The study

• Author: J. Ferrer Sancho
• Journal: Archivos de Bronconeumología
• Published: 2020;56(3):141-142
• Language: Spanish
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This is an editorial, written in Spanish, not a research study. The author argued that the real scale of asbestos-related disease in Spain is not well known, and described a registry being promoted by the EROM area of SEPAR, the Spanish respiratory society. The editorial reported a pilot phase in which 10 Spanish centres registered 100 cases of asbestos-related disease. These people had a mean age of 73 (range 43 to 93). Most were men (89%) and former smokers, and their exposure was mainly occupational (87%). The most frequent diagnoses were pleural plaques (74%), asbestosis (22%), pleural fibrosis (10%), mesothelioma (6%) and lung cancer (6%). The most common work sectors were the naval sector and the fibre-cement industry. The author described the registry as voluntary, collecting demographic, exposure (occupational, domestic and environmental), radiological and lung-function data, but gave no detail on how pilot cases were selected or analysed. The author concluded that data from this registry could complement the national PIVISTEA health-surveillance programme for asbestos-exposed workers, and that doctors need to be convinced to register the cases they diagnose.

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: editorial (opinion article) that includes brief pilot data from a registry of asbestos-related disease
• Who was studied: 100 cases of asbestos-related disease registered by 10 Spanish centres in a pilot phase of the SEPAR EROM registry; no dates given
• Exposure: asbestos exposure, predominantly occupational (87% of the pilot cases); fiber types not stated. The registry is voluntary and records demographic data, occupational, domestic and environmental exposure, and radiological and lung-function data
• Main results:
  • Pilot registry cases had a mean age of 73 years (range 43 to 93)
  • Pilot registry cases were mostly men (89%) and former smokers
  • Most prevalent diagnoses among the pilot cases: pleural plaques 74%, asbestosis 22%, pleural fibrosis 10%, mesothelioma 6%, lung cancer 6%
  • The most common work sectors among the pilot cases were the naval sector and the fibre-cement industry
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that data from the asbestos disease registry could complement the results of the national PIVISTEA programme, as a reflection of diagnosis in specialised centres

Topics

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

Related studies

• Problems in the pathology of disease caused by asbestos — F. Whitwell (1978)
• Relative importance of cigarette smoking in occupational lung disease — P.C. Elmes (1981)
• The relative importance of clinical, radiological and pulmonary function variables in evaluating asbestosis and chronic obstructive airway disease in asbestos workers — G.M. Regan, B. Tagg, et al. (1971)
• The increasing importance of asbestos-related pleural disease — L. Rosenstock, L.D. Hudson (1991)
• Respiratory Diseases with High Occupational Fraction in Italy: Results from the Italian Hospital Discharge Registry (2010-2021) — P. Ferrante (2024)
• Common problems in asbestos-related pulmonary diseases — A.H. Rubin (1986)

Browse more research in Archivos de Bronconeumología, or return to medical research.