The significance of non-occupational asbestos exposure in women with mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of The significance of non-occupational asbestos exposure in women with mesothelioma, by N. Tlotleng, K. Sidwell Wilson, N. Naicker, et al (Respirology Case Reports, 2019).

The study

• Authors: N. Tlotleng, K. Sidwell Wilson, N. Naicker, C.F. Koegelenberg, D. Rees, J.I. Phillips
• Journal: Respirology Case Reports
• Published: 2019;7(1):e00386
• Type of article: Case report
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive pleural or peritoneal tumour almost always caused by exposure to asbestos fibres. Exposure to asbestos can cause malignant mesothelioma 30-40 years after exposure. A description of sources of exposure is important for prevention and possible financial compensation. Three women with cases of histologically confirmed malignant mesothelioma diagnosed from non-occupational asbestos exposure are described. Patients were contacted for an interview to assess their exposure history to asbestos. All three cases had mixed exposure histories related to secondary, environmental contamination, and domestic exposure. This case series highlight how ubiquitous asbestos is in the environment and how diverse the exposures may be. It is anticipated that a significant number of cases of non-occupational mesothelioma will be seen in many countries for several decades given the extent of asbestos containing materials.

In plain English

This case series described three South African women diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma in public hospitals between July and December 2017 who had no direct occupational exposure to asbestos. The authors interviewed them about past exposure. For one woman, they also had building materials from her childhood home tested.

The first woman, aged 70, had worked in an office at an asbestos mine in 1971–1972. She had lived in a mine house with asbestos cement roofs. She had hand washed the dusty work clothes of her husband, who worked at the mine for 15 years and was later diagnosed with asbestosis.

The second woman, aged 69, had lived near a power station from 1948 to 1969. The authors identified this as her only possible source of exposure.

The third woman, aged 58, had lived near an asbestos cement plant until 1998. Samples from her childhood home contained crocidolite and chrysotile asbestos.

The authors concluded that all three cases had multiple sources of exposure: secondary, environmental and domestic. They expected cases of pleural mesothelioma to continue in South Africa despite the asbestos ban.

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: case series (three case reports)
• Who was studied: Three adult women (aged 70, 69 and 58) with histologically confirmed malignant mesothelioma, diagnosed July 2017 to December 2017 in public hospitals in South Africa, with no direct occupational asbestos exposure
• Exposure: Non-occupational exposures, assessed by interview: living in asbestos mine housing and near asbestos mills, washing a mine worker's clothes, living near a power station, and living near an asbestos cement plant in a home whose materials contained crocidolite and chrysotile
• Main results:
  • Case 1 (70-year-old woman): her husband worked in an asbestos mine for 15 years (1960 to 1975) and was diagnosed with asbestosis in 1999. She had worked in an office at the mine in 1971 to 1972, reported not working with or touching asbestos, and lived in a mine house with asbestos cement roofs.
  • Case 2 (69-year-old woman): she lived near a power station, where her father worked, from 1948 to 1969.
  • Case 2: the power station was the only possible source of exposure the authors identified.
  • Case 3 (58-year-old woman): she lived near an asbestos cement plant until 1998.
  • Case 3: samples from windowsills, downpipes and renovation waste at her childhood home contained crocidolite and chrysotile asbestos fibres.
  • All three cases had multiple sources of exposure: secondary, environmental contamination, and domestic.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, through such non-occupational exposures, cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma can be expected to continue in South Africa despite the asbestos ban 10 years earlier.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Breast cancer and occupational exposures in women in Finland — E. Weiderpass, E. Pukkala, et al. (1999)
• Occupational risk factors for lung cancer in women: results of a case-control study in Germany — I. Jahn, W. Ahrens, et al. (1999)
• Occupational class, occupational mobility and cancer incidence among middle-aged men and women: a prospective study of the French GAZEL cohort* — M. Melchior, M. Goldberg, et al. (2005)
• Known occupational carcinogens and their significance — P. Ernst, G. Thériault (1984)
• Asbestos in the sputum, crackles in the lungs, and radiologic changes in women exposed to asbestos — J.C. Davies, D. Kielkowski, et al. (2004)
• Malignant mesothelioma: prognostic variables in a registry of 180 patients, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital experience over two decades, 1965-1985 — K. Antman, R. Shemin, et al. (1988)

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