The results of a new study on Italian asbestos cement workers indicates that the risk of lung cancer in people exposed to the toxic mineral decreases when asbestos exposure ends.

The study, carried out by an Italian research group headed by Dr. Corrado Magnani of the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy, appeared in the March 2008 issue of “Occupational and Environmental Medicine.”

However, the researchers also found that while the risk of pleural mesothelioma (which develops in the lining of the lungs) decreases after exposure ends, the risk of peritoneal mesothelioma (which develops in the lining of the abdominal cavity) actually continues to increase.

The research study, which sought to gather more information about the long-term risks of asbestos-exposure, involved a total of 3,434 male and female workers at an Italian cement plant that used asbestos. They worked at the plant between 1950 and 1986 (when the plant closed).

Confirmation of existing knowledge, and some surprising new information, was uncovered.
Both men and women in the study group had an increased risk of dying from any cause, including any type of cancer (including lung cancer and pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma).

Women in the study group were found to have an increased risk of developing uterine and ovarian cancers. Neither men nor women were found to have an increased risk of developing cancers of the digestive tract or larynx (relative to the risk in the general population).

Over the 41 year period of the study, the researchers found that 480 “excess deaths” were due to asbestosis (an asbestos-related disease that causes chronic lung inflammation) or some type of cancer (including mesotheliomas).
For the members of the study, the risk of developing pleural mesothelioma increased the longer the workers were exposed to asbestos. Surprisingly, however, the pleural mesothelioma risk actually began to decrease around fifty years after exposure had ceased.

A similar pattern was found for lung cancer. The peak period of risk in men was 30 to 39 years after exposure to asbestos ceased. For women, the peak period of risk was 20 to 29 years after exposure ceased. For both men and women, the risk began to decline after this period.
However, for peritoneal mesothelioma, the risks continued to increase more than forty years after exposure to asbestos ceased.

The researchers believe this data suggests that asbestos exposure causes pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma by different mechanisms.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.