Insulation workers in Belfast. A further study of mortality due to asbestos exposure (1940-75).

Abstract

A follow-up study of 162 men already working as insulators (laggers) In the first studies of insulation workers (laggers) in Belfast, the men who were still at work showed no gross evidence of disability due to asbestos exposure Langlands et al., 1971). However, investigation of a group of men who had been employed in insulation work in 1940 revealed an unexpectedly high mortality (Elmes and Simpson, 1971). The deaths in excess of those expected were due to lung cancer, mesothelioma and gastrointestinal tumours. There were also some due to pulmonary fibrosis in the earlier years. The men had been followed up to the end of 1966 and of the original 170, five were untraced and 98 had died. This paper reports the fate of the survivors and reviews the mortality experience of the. whole group to give a clearer picture of the health hazard of the occupation over the period . Methods THE POPULATIONThe initial total population of Belfast insulation workers (laggers) in 1940 was 170 men. Details of the method of identifying them are given in the previous paper (Elmes and Simpson, 1971). The survivors were seen at two to three-year intervals as part of a continous surveillance of all past and present workers in Northern Ireland whohad worked

Occurrence of cancer in a small cohort of asbestos-exposed workers

“…The observed/expected ratio for lung cancer found in this small cohort is similar to the ratio presented by Doll in 1955 (7), and to the figures found by Elmes & Simpson in their studies of insulation workers in Belfast (8). These observed/expected figures are high in relation to the results found in other cohort studies on asbestos workers (21).…”

Critical Review of Epidemiologic Studies Related to Ingested Asbestos

“…Epidemiologic studies of several occupational groups exposed to asbestos have shown an increased incidence of cancer of the esophagus, stomach, colon, and rectum and of peritoneal mesotheliomas (19)(20)(21)(22) With respect to nongastrointestinal neoplasms, an increased risk for cancer of the kidneys has been found in a recent occupational study of insulation workers (23). A biological basis for this risk has been described by Cook and Olson (24).…”

Critical review of epidemiologic studies related to ingested asbestos.

“…The pattern of integrated findings presented for gastrointestinal cancers is somewhat consistent with patterns observed among workers occupationally exposed to asbestos. Epidemiologic studies of several occupational groups exposed to asbestos have shown an increased incidence of cancer of the esophagus, stomach, colon, and rectum and of peritoneal mesotheliomas (19)(20)(21)(22). Furthermore, as noted by Mason et al in 1974 (1), certain studies of asbestos installation workers in the United States have shown cancer of the upper gastrointestinal tract to be in far greater excess than cancer of the colon and rectum.…”