Spatial analysis of asbestos exposure and occupational health care in Poland during the period 2004-2013

Krówczyńska, Małgorzata; Wilk, Ewa

doi:10.4081/gh.2018.689

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The analysis of measurements of asbestos fibre concentrations in the air in the period 2004–2013 was made on the basis of data provided by the Ministry of Economy [54]. Measurements of asbestos fibre concentrations were undertaken in 279 counties, which constitute 73% of the total number of counties in Poland (Figure 5).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Asbestos as a Result of Consumption and Use in Poland

Krówczyńska

Wilk

2019

IJERPH

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Asbestos is harmful to human health; exposure to asbestos causes a wide range of asbestos-related diseases. Aim: Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is unique to occupational and environmental asbestos exposure. Methods: Environmental asbestos exposure was examined in relation to asbestos use and manufacturing, the quantity of the asbestos-containing products still in use, the concentrations of asbestos fibres in the air and the number of MM cases diagnosed each year per county. Results: The correlation coefficient of the measurements of the asbestos fibre concentrations in the air and the quantity of asbestos-cement products in use is high and amounts to 0.68. Meanwhile, the correlation coefficient of the measurements of asbestos fibre concentrations in air and MM morbidity rate resulting from environmental exposure calculated for particular counties in provinces is low and amounts to 0.37. The highest MM morbidity rate was observed for Małopolskie and Śląskie, a typical industrial area of Poland. Conclusions: There are MM cases which are still attributable to occupational asbestos exposure, although MM cases resulting from environmental exposure to asbestos have an increased MM risk. Poland is among those countries with a low MM incidence rate, which seems to be an underestimation of environmental asbestos exposure. As long as asbestos-cement products are used in the environment, actions should be undertaken to protect public health.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Asbestos as a Result of Consumption and Use in Poland

Krówczyńska

Wilk

2019

IJERPH

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“…Data from an Italian study showed that the hospitalized patients were mostly men and elderly from the north-west region of the country [6]. In Poland, the majority of the former asbestos-producing plants are located in the southern part of the country [14], which may be an important factor relating to the higher number of asbestosis cases in this region of Poland. Another study reported that all patients who were not exposed to asbestos at work or were exposed to lower quantities of the substance, died of mesothelioma, although there were also other factors that caused the death of factory workers (lung cancer, asbestosis) [19].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study on the incidence of occupational diseases related to asbestos in Poland in 970-2015, reported 4,983 asbestos-related disease cases, of which asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, diseases of the pleura and pericardium were the most common. There are other papers with information on asbestosis in Poland [13,14,15], but (to the authors' knowledge) the presented study is the first which can shed light on the current burden of this disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Asbestosis hospitalizations in Poland (2006–2016): results from the National Hospital Discharge Registry

Kanecki

Kosińska

Tyszko

et al. 2020

Ann Agric Environ Med.

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Introduction and objective. Occupational asbestos exposure is one of the major public health issues. Although asbestos use in Poland has decreased, asbestosis continues to remain an important health concern in the area of occupational medicine. The aim of the study is to perform a descriptive analysis of hospitalization cases in patients suffering from asbestosis in Poland. Materials and method. The authors used hospital discharge records to conduct a retrospective, population-based study. To estimate the asbestosis hospitalization rate, data from the Nationwide General Hospital Morbidity Study conducted by the National Institute of Public Health were used. Events were defined as in-patient hospital discharges during 2006-2016. 1,101 hospitalization records of 764 patients were included in the study. Results. In the study group of first-time hospitalized patients, the mean and median ages were 68.1 and 69 years, respectively; CI: 67.3-68.9; SD: 11.1, min-max:16-99 years. In this group, significant gender differences were observed (560 males vs. 204 female; P<0.001). No statistical differences were observed regarding the place of residence. During the observation period, 61 in-hospital deaths were reported (8% of all patients), 40 of whom (5.2 % of all patients) took place during the first-time hospitalizations. Asbestosis hospitalizations were mainly clustered in the southwestern region, whereas the highest hospitalization rates were clustered in several areas of Poland. Conclusions. The authors believe this study to be the first evaluation of asbestosis in Poland made on the basis of the hospital morbidity database. The data presented may be helpful in comparative studies on the epidemiology of asbestosis across European countries.

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“…Statistical models are used to assess the potential risk of asbestos-related diseases, e.g., pleural mesothelioma [8] or lung cancer [9], based on the total amount of asbestos fibers used in the production per country population. Due to the lack of data on the quantity and the spatial distribution of asbestos-cement products used, research is undertaken to assess the risk of developing asbestos-related diseases on the basis of asbestos consumption indices in production per country's population [10,11]. There is a lack of detailed data on the number of products used, spatially broken down into administrative units, which could significantly affect the obtained results [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the Spatial Distribution of Asbestos—Cement Products in Poland with the Use of the Random Forest Algorithm

2019

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The unique set of physical and chemical properties of asbestos has led to its many industrial applications worldwide, of which roofing and facades constitute approximately 80% of currently used asbestos-containing products. Since asbestos-containing products are harmful to human health, their use and production have been banned in many countries. To date, no research has been undertaken to estimate the total amount of asbestos-cement products used at the country level in relation to regions or other administrative units. The objective of this paper is to present a possible new solution for developing the spatial distribution of asbestos-cement products used across the country by applying the supervised machine learning algorithm, i.e., Random Forest. Based on the results of a physical inventory taken on asbestos-cement products with the use of aerial imagery, and the application of selected features, considering the socio-economic situation of Poland, i.e., population, buildings, public finance, housing economy and municipal infrastructure, wages, salaries and social security benefits, agricultural census, entities of the national economy, labor market, environment protection, area of built-up surfaces, historical belonging to annexations, and data on asbestos manufacturing plants, best Random Forest models were computed. The selection of important variables was made in the R v.3.1.0 program and supported by the Boruta algorithm. The prediction of the amount of asbestos-cement products used in communes was executed in the randomForest package. An algorithm explaining 75.85% of the variance was subsequently used to prepare the prediction map of the spatial distribution of the amount of asbestos-cement products used in Poland. The total amount was estimated at 710,278,645 m 2 (7.8 million tons). Since the best model used data on built-up surfaces which are available for the whole of Europe, it is worth considering the use of the developed method in other European countries, as well as to assess the environmental risk of asbestos exposure to humans.

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Spatial analysis of asbestos exposure and occupational health care in Poland during the period 2004-2013

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Asbestos as a Result of Consumption and Use in Poland

Environmental and Occupational Exposure to Asbestos as a Result of Consumption and Use in Poland

Asbestosis hospitalizations in Poland (2006–2016): results from the National Hospital Discharge Registry

Modelling the Spatial Distribution of Asbestos—Cement Products in Poland with the Use of the Random Forest Algorithm

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