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Asbestos Exposure Symptoms
Table Of Contents
There are no immediate symptoms of asbestos exposure, but signs of asbestos-related diseases can appear years later. Prolonged exposure to asbestos can lead to asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Early recognition of symptoms is crucial for timely diagnosis and effective treatment.
Written by Michelle Whitmer | Medically Reviewed By Dr. Andrea Wolf | Edited By Walter Pacheco | Last Update: July 23, 2024
Written by Michelle Whitmer | Medically Reviewed By Dr. Andrea Wolf | Edited By Walter Pacheco | Last Update: July 23, 2024
What Are the Symptoms of Asbestos Exposure?
The most common symptoms of asbestos exposure include shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pain. The effects of prolonged exposure to asbestos typically appear 20 to 60 years after you were initially exposed. The most common symptoms of asbestos exposure involve the lungs because asbestos fibers are inhaled.
Most Common Symptoms
- Chest pain or tightness
- Coughing up blood
- Crackling sound in the lungs when breathing
- Frequent lung infections
- Persistent, dry cough or wheezing
- Pleural effusion (accumulation of fluid in the space surrounding a lung)
- Pleural plaques
- Pleural thickening
- Respiratory complications
- Shortness of breath
Exposure to asbestos through inhalation may lead to respiratory conditions such as pleural mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. Ingestion of asbestos is less common and may contribute to cases of peritoneal mesothelioma. Exposure also causes noncancerous conditions typically affecting the respiratory system.
Key Facts About Asbestos Exposure Symptoms
- It often takes decades after initial asbestos contact for signs and symptoms to develop.
- One of the first asbestos exposure symptoms to appear is a dry cough that won’t go away.
- Signs of asbestos exposure typically indicate the development of an asbestos-related disease.
Non-Respiratory Symptoms of Asbestos Exposure
While asbestos exposure causes more conditions that affect the respiratory system, some fibers travel through the bloodstream where they may damage other parts of the body. When asbestos causes disease in other parts of the body, the signs primarily affect the throat, stomach, colon or pelvic region.
Asbestos Exposure Symptoms Throughout the Body
- Abdominal, back, groin or pelvic pain
- Abdominal swelling and distention
- Bowel obstruction
- Clubbed fingers
- Difficulty swallowing
- Fatigue
- Feeling full too quickly
- Hernia
- Hoarseness
- Loss of appetite
- Muscle loss
- Sensation of a lump in the throat
- Testicular swelling
- Weight loss
Symptoms affecting the stomach, colon, pelvis or groin may be a sign of ovarian cancer, peritoneal mesothelioma or testicular mesothelioma. When symptoms affect the throat, they may be a sign of laryngeal cancer, lung cancer or pleural mesothelioma.
Is There a Way to Test for Asbestos Exposure?
There is no test to detect asbestos exposure in people who wonder if they’ve encountered the mineral recently or in the past. No test can detect asbestos fibers in blood samples, and asbestos exposure doesn’t create unique biomarkers in the blood that can be tested for either.
My story begins when I went to my general practitioner’s office because of a cough and an unusual lack of energy. I thought maybe I was coming down with a case of pneumonia.
Michael Cole, Pleural Mesothelioma Survivor
Diagnostic tests for asbestos-related diseases are the kinds of tests that show a person was exposed to asbestos. These tests can’t identify recent exposure to asbestos because it takes decades for asbestos-related diseases to develop.
When a diagnostic test for asbestosis or mesothelioma is positive, it confirms that someone was exposed to asbestos because it’s the primary cause of these conditions. Mesothelioma doctors assume the patient was exposed to asbestos when an examination reveals an asbestos-related condition.
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Get Yours NowScreening for Asbestos-Related Diseases
If you have a history of heavy asbestos exposure, screening for mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases could aid an early diagnosis. Tell your doctor if you have a history of asbestos exposure or have experienced symptoms of asbestos exposure and ask for recommended screenings.
There’s no single screening that can conclusively detect mesothelioma. A combination of tests may help doctors find potential problems before they start to cause symptoms.
Asbestos Exposure and Screening Tools
- Bronchoalveolar lavage
- Bronchoscopy
- Chest X-ray
- Low-dose CT scan
- Pulmonary function tests
- Spirometry
The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends a chest X-ray and pulmonary function tests every 3 to 5 years for patients with noncancerous asbestos disease. These tests might catch cancerous changes in the chest but are not entirely reliable.
Researchers have worked on blood tests for mesothelioma. Others are developing tests for biomarkers of asbestos exposure. These tests aren’t accurate enough yet to detect signs of asbestos exposure or mesothelioma. Transvaginal ultrasound and a blood test for the CA-125 protein may be used as screening tools for ovarian cancer.
Asbestos exposure can cause a wide range of diseases including chronic respiratory issues such as COPD and asbestosis. These conditions happen when the lining of the tissue of the lungs is damaged over a long period of time.
Asbestos-Related Diseases, Cancers and Conditions
Exposure to asbestos causes cancerous and noncancerous diseases. Asbestosis is the most serious noncancerous condition. The International Agency for Research on Cancer confirmed asbestos causes at least 4 types of cancer including mesothelioma and lung cancer.
The IARC also found an increased risk of other cancers but hasn’t proven a direct causal relationship. These include stomach cancer, pharyngeal cancer and colorectal cancer. The latency period for symptoms of malignant conditions to develop ranges from 20 to 60 years.
Asbestos-Related Diseases
- Asbestosis: A noncancerous progressive lung disease, it leads to severe lung dysfunction including difficulty breathing.
- Atelectasis: A collapsed lung or lobe may cause breathing difficulties and chest pain.
- Benign mesothelioma: This rare disease involves noncancerous tumors on the mesothelium that don’t spread from origin.
- Benign pleural effusion: This condition causes sharp chest pain and shortness of breath.
- Laryngeal cancer: Signs of laryngeal cancer include hoarseness and pain when swallowing.
- Lung cancer: The common signs of lung cancer include a progressive cough and breathing issues.
- Mesothelioma: Chest pain, shortness of breath and abdominal swelling are the first signs of this malignant cancer.
- Ovarian cancer: Commonly connected to asbestos-contaminated talc, bloating, diarrhea and abdominal pain are common symptoms.
- Pleural plaques: These lesions may lead to coughing and pain while breathing.
- Pleural thickening: This condition may cause moderate to severe breathlessness and chest pains.
- Pleuritis: Also known as pleurisy, this condition causes chest pain.
Sometimes, noncancerous asbestos-related diseases develop before asbestos cancers. They’re not a reliable sign that cancer will develop, but they do indicate a high level of exposure associated with asbestos cancers.
An asbestosis diagnosis indicates a person had enough exposure to also be at risk of asbestos-related cancers. People with asbestosis are 7.4 times more likely to develop lung cancer. About 9% of people initially diagnosed with asbestosis die of mesothelioma and 38% die of lung cancer.
Survivor Story
Survivor Story
Carla Fasolo
Mesothelioma Survivor
The Inspiring Spirit of Mesothelioma Survivor Carla Fasolo
Carla Fasolo’s cancer journey is one of hope and determination. In 2021, her doctors diagnosed her with pleural mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive asbestos-related cancer. Since then, she’s had to face one challenge after another. Fasolo’s courage is evident. She credits the unwavering support of her loved ones and the power of community. Now she’s sharing her strength with others.
Common Questions About Signs & Symptoms of Asbestos Exposure
- How long can it take for disease relating to asbestos exposure to show up?
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Symptoms of asbestos-related disease typically don’t appear until about 40 years after exposure. This asbestos latency period can make a mesothelioma diagnosis, for example, difficult since patients may not have symptoms until the disease is in its advanced stages.
- What are the signs and symptoms of asbestos exposure?
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There are no signs of asbestos exposure itself. There are signs of asbestos-related diseases that can develop years after exposure.
Signs of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases most commonly include:
- Shortness of breath
- Pain in the chest or abdomen
- Fatigue or general weakness
- Fever or night sweats
- Dry cough
- How much asbestos exposure is safe?
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), no level of asbestos exposure is safe. Excess rates of cancers are found at all asbestos fiber concentrations. While this means that there is no evidence for a safe level of asbestos exposure, the risk is relative to the amount of exposure.
- Who is at higher risk of developing health problems from asbestos exposure?
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Most people who get sick worked heavily with asbestos for most of their careers. How long a person was exposed and the concentration of asbestos fibers they inhaled increases the risk of getting sick. The combination of smoking and asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer but not mesothelioma.
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