Smoking rates in asbestos workers

Our plain-English summary of Smoking rates in asbestos workers, by J.H. Lange, J.A. Hoskins, G. Mastrangelo (Occupational Medicine, 2006).

The study

• Authors: J.H. Lange, J.A. Hoskins, G. Mastrangelo
• Journal: Occupational Medicine
• Published: 2006;56(8):581
• Type of article: Comment, Letter
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item was a letter to the editor, not a research study, and it reported no new data of its own. The three authors commented on an earlier paper by Johnson and colleagues, which, according to the letter, reported that 64% of the asbestos workers it studied smoked, with an average age of 37. The letter compared this with a separate report in which 78% of US asbestos abatement workers were current smokers, with an average age of 34. It set these figures against a reported smoking rate of 42% for US construction workers and 23% for US adults in 2000. The authors stated that asbestos exposure levels for abatement workers, at least in the USA, are now so low that smoking appears to be the major hazard for these workers. They added that smoking inside the work area is common in the industry, so non-smokers may breathe second-hand smoke. Citing another investigation, they wrote that smoking may have a causal influence in mesothelioma, but only in a subpopulation. The authors called for greater emphasis on smoking cessation programs and for further studies of these workers.

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: Letter to the editor commenting on a previously published paper (Johnson et al.); no original data
• Who was studied: No participants were studied. The letter discussed asbestos workers described in Johnson et al. and asbestos abatement workers in the USA described in other reports.
• Exposure: Smoking and second-hand smoke among asbestos abatement workers, and the authors' view that asbestos exposure levels in this work are now low in the USA; no fiber types were named
• Main results:
  • Cited from Johnson et al., not this letter: 64% of the asbestos workers in that paper smoked.
  • Cited from another report (reference 2), not this letter: 78% of US asbestos abatement workers were current smokers, average age 34. Johnson et al. reported an average age of 37.
  • Cited from reference 2: US construction workers had a reported smoking rate of 42%.
  • Cited from a CDC report (reference 3): the US smoking rate was 23% in 2000. The letter added that rates have fallen across occupational groups but do not appear to have changed for asbestos workers.
  • The authors stated that smoking inside the work area is common in the asbestos abatement industry, so non-smokers may be exposed to second-hand smoke.
  • Citing another investigation (reference 8), the authors wrote that smoking may have a causal influence in mesothelioma, but only in a subpopulation.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that smoking appears to be the major hazard for these workers. They called for greater emphasis on smoking cessation programs, for prevention of injury and illness not directly related to asbestos exposure, and for further studies of this population.

Related studies

• Asbestos exposure, cigarette smoking and death rates — E.C. Hammond, I.J. Selikoff, et al. (1979)
• Effects of asbestos and smoking on the levels and rates of change of lung function in a crocidolite exposed cohort in Western Australia — H.S. Alfonso, L. Fritschi, et al. (2004)
• Smoking prevalence of asbestos workers: a comment — J.H. Lange, K.W. Thomulka (2003)
• Early detection of interstitial lung disease in asbestos exposed non-smoking workers by mid-expiratory flow rate and high resolution computed tomography — Z. Dujić, J. Tocilj, et al. (1991)
• Silicosis and smoking strongly increase lung cancer risk in silica-exposed workers — N. Kurihara, O. Wada (2004)
• Combined effect of asbestos exposure and smoking on mortality from lung cancer in factory workers — G. Berry, M.L. Newhouse, et al. (1972)

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