Mesothelioma epidemiology
Incident
Although reported incidence rates have increased in the past 20 years, mesothelioma is still a relatively rare cancer. The incidence rate...
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- Incident
Between 1940 and 1979, approximately 27.5 million people occupationally exposed to asbestos in the United States. Between 1973 and 1984, there was a threefold increase in the diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma in Caucasian male. From 1980 until the late 1990s, the death rate from mesothelioma in the USA increased from 2,000 per year to 3,000, with men four times more likely than women to obtain. This figure may not be accurate, because it may be that many cases of mesothelioma are misdiagnosed as adenocarcinoma of the lung, which is difficult to differentiate from mesothelioma.
- Risk factor
Asbestos is the name of a group of minerals that occur naturally as masses of strong, flexible fibers that can be separated into thin threads and woven. Asbestos has been widely used in many industrial products, including cement, brake linings, gaskets, tile, flooring products, textiles, and insulation. If tiny asbestos particles float in the air, especially during the manufacturing process, they can be inhaled or swallowed, and can cause serious health problems. In addition to mesothelioma, exposure to asbestos increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous lung disease, chronic) and other cancers, such as throat and kidneys.
The combination of smoking and asbestos exposure significantly increases a person's risk of developing cancer Airways (lung cancer, bronchial carcinoma). Kent brand of cigarettes used asbestos in the filter for the first few years of production in the 1950s and some cases of mesothelioma have resulted. Modern Smoking does not seem to increase the risk of mesothelioma.
Some studies suggest that simian virus 40 (SV40) may act as a cofactor in the development of mesothelioma.
- Exposure
Today, the US Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets limits for acceptable levels of asbestos exposure in the workplace, and created guidelines for engineering controls and respirators, protective clothing, exposure monitoring, hygiene facilities and practices, warning signs, labeling, books, and medical exams. In contrast, the British government health and safety executive (K3) states formally that any threshold for mesothelioma must be at a very low level and many agree that if any such limits exist at all, then it is not at this time can be measured. For practical purposes, therefore, the K3 does not assume that there are no such limits. People who work with asbestos wear personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of exposure.
- Environmental exposure
- The Work
Documented presence of asbestos fibers in water supplies and food products has fostered concerns about the possible long-term effects, however, are not known to the general population exposure to these fibers. Although many authorities consider brief or transient exposure to asbestos fibers world and a possible risk factor, some epidemiological claims that there is no risk threshold. Mesothelioma cases have been found in people whose only exposure was breathing the air through the ventilation system. Other cases had very minimal (3 months or less) direct exposure.
Commercial asbestos mining at Wittenoom, Western Australia, occurred between 1945 to 1966. A cohort study of miners working in the mine reported that while no deaths occurred within the first 10 years after crocidolite, 85 deaths related to mesothelioma had occurred prior to 1985. In 1994, 539 reported deaths due to mesothelioma has been reported in Western Australia.
- Secondary Paraoccupational exposure
- Asbestos in buildings
