Respiratory morbidity among workers in an amosite asbestos insulation plant

Our plain-English summary of Respiratory morbidity among workers in an amosite asbestos insulation plant, by W.M. Johnson, R.A. Lemen, G.A. Hurst, et al (Journal of Occupational Medicine., 1982).

The study

• Authors: W.M. Johnson, R.A. Lemen, G.A. Hurst, R.M. Spiegel, F.H. Liu
• Journal: Journal of Occupational Medicine.
• Published: 1982;24(12):994-9
• Cited by: 8 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy (J-M no. 000681).

In plain English

This cross-sectional study examined lung disease in workers at a Tyler, Texas, plant making amosite asbestos pipe insulation from 1954 to 1972. Air surveys in 1967, 1970 and 1971 found average levels in many operations were a multiple of the OSHA standard current at publication, two fibers longer than 5 micrometers per cubic centimeter. Of 63 employees questioned in 1971, 50 with at least one year of employment had chest X-rays and breathing tests; one with two years was untested and excluded. Asbestosis required at least three of five criteria: significant breathlessness, finger clubbing, persistent basilar rales (lung crackles), forced vital capacity below 80% of predicted, and X-ray small opacities of profusion 1/0 or greater. Seven workers with 10 or more years of employment met them (the article gives this group as 16 and, elsewhere, 18); none with under 10 years did. Pleural thickening appeared in 7 of 18 workers with 10 or more years and 2 of 8 with five to nine years. The authors concluded that making and using amosite pipe insulation is hazardous.

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: Cross-sectional medical and industrial hygiene survey of current workers at one plant
• Who was studied: Workers at an amosite pipe insulation plant in Tyler, Texas (operated 1954 to 1972), examined in 1971. 63 employees answered questionnaires. 13 were excluded because they did not have lung function tests or chest X-rays: 12 with less than one year of employment and one with two years of employment. That left 50 employees with one year or more of employment for analysis. Company records listed 859 men employed at any time from 1954 to 1972, and 674 of them worked less than one year.
• Exposure: Amosite asbestos from the Transvaal, South Africa, made into pipe insulation from a mixture of approximately 90% amosite with varying amounts of diatomaceous earth, sodium silicate and mineral wool. Personal air samples were taken in 1967, 1970 and 1971. In many operations, mean fiber concentrations were a multiple of the OSHA standard current when the article was written: two fibers longer than 5 micrometers per cubic centimeter of air. NIOSH found the ventilation inadequate, housekeeping deficient and the respirator program inadequate.
• Main results:
  • Seven workers with 10 or more years of employment met at least three of the five criteria for asbestosis. The results section gives this group as 18 workers, while the abstract and summary say seven of 16.
  • No worker with less than 10 years of employment met at least three of the criteria for asbestosis.
  • The asbestosis criteria included persistent basilar rales and an FVC of less than 80% of the predicted value. The other criteria were grade 2 breathlessness, finger clubbing, and small opacities on the chest X-ray.
  • The X-ray criterion for asbestosis required small opacities of profusion 1/0 or greater.
  • Pleural thickening was found in two of eight workers with five to nine years of employment and in seven of 18 workers with 10 or more years of employment.
  • Pleural calcification was found in one of 18 workers with 10 or more years of exposure.
  • Among workers with less than ten years of employment, only one had grade 2 breathlessness and two had basilar rales.
  • Chest X-rays of two of the seven workers diagnosed with asbestosis showed no small opacities.
  • Of the 859 men employed at the plant between 1954 and 1972, 674 worked less than one year.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the manufacture and use of amosite asbestos pipe insulation products are hazardous. They also noted that other studies had reported asbestosis, mesotheliomas and increased lung cancer risk among workers at the predecessor plant in New Jersey.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Respiratory morbidity in a population of French dental technicians — S. Radi, J.C. Dalphin, et al. (2002)
• Longitudinal pattern of reported respiratory symptoms and accelerated ventilatory loss in asbestos-exposed workers — C.A. Brodkin, S. Barnhart, et al. (1996)
• Effects of smoking on respiratory function and exercise performance in asbestos workers — X. Wang, S. Araki, et al. (1995)
• Respiratory morbidity in workers exposed to asbestos in the primary manufacture of building materials — T.G. Robins, M.A. Green (1988)
• Extended follow-up of lung cancer and non-malignant respiratory disease mortality among California diatomaceous earth workers — L.G. Gallagher, R.M. Park, et al. (2015)
• Tyler asbestos workers: mortality experience in a cohort exposed to amosite — J.L. Levin, J.W. McLarty, et al. (1998)

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