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Musk AWB, Reid A, Olsen N, Hobbs M, Armstrong B, Franklin P, Hui J, Layman L, Merler E, Brims F, Alfonso H, Shilkin K, Sodhi-Berry N, de Klerk N. The Wittenoom legacy. Int J Epidemiol 2021; 49:467-476. [PMID: 31670764 DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyz204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The Wittenoom crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine and mill ceased operating in 1966. The impact of this industry on asbestos-related disease in Western Australia has been immense. Use of the employment records of the Australian Blue Asbestos Company and records of the Wittenoom township residents has permitted two cohorts of people with virtually exclusive exposure to crocidolite to be assembled and studied. Follow-up of these two cohorts has been conducted through data linkage with available hospital, mortality and cancer records. The evolution of asbestos-related disease has been recorded and, with the establishment of exposure measurements, quantitative exposure-response relationships have been estimated. There has been an ongoing epidemic of mortality from lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma and, less so, from asbestosis. Wittenoom crocidolite was used extensively in asbestos-cement products in Western Australia. As a result, the state has recorded a higher malignant-mesothelioma mortality rate than in any other Australian state and in any defined general population in the world. Thus, the legacy of Wittenoom has extended beyond the mine and the town, and is still evident more than 50 years after the closure of the mine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arthur W Bill Musk
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Alison Reid
- School of Public Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
| | - Nola Olsen
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Michael Hobbs
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Bruce Armstrong
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Peter Franklin
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Jennie Hui
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.,PathWest Laboratories Medicine of WA, Nedlands, WA, Australia
| | - Lenore Layman
- School of Arts, Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Enzo Merler
- Previously, Venetian Mesothelioma Registry, National Health Service, Padua, Italy
| | - Fraser Brims
- Curtin Medical School, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
| | - Helman Alfonso
- School of Public Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
| | - Keith Shilkin
- PathWest Laboratories Medicine of WA, Nedlands, WA, Australia
| | - Nita Sodhi-Berry
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - Nicholas de Klerk
- School of Population and Global Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.,Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
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Ahn YS, Jeong KS. Epidemiologic characteristics of compensated occupational lung cancers among Korean workers. J Korean Med Sci 2014; 29:1473-81. [PMID: 25408577 PMCID: PMC4234913 DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2014.29.11.1473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2014] [Accepted: 07/25/2014] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
An understanding of the characteristics of occupational lung cancer is important to establish policies that prevent carcinogen exposure and to compensate workers exposed to lung carcinogens. This study analyzed the characteristics of occupational lung cancers in workers who were compensated under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Law between 1994 and 2011. A total of 179 occupational lung cancers were compensated. The main carcinogenic exposure was asbestos, followed by crystalline silica and hexavalent chromium. The mean exposure duration and latency were 19.8 and 23.2 yr. The most common industry was manufacturing, followed by construction and transportation. The most common occupation was maintenance and repair, followed by foundry work, welding, painting, and spinning or weaving. Although asbestos was predominant carcinogen, the proportion of these cases was relatively low compared to other developed countries. Proper surveillance system is needed to monitor occupational lung cancer and improve prevention measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yeon-Soon Ahn
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea
| | - Kyoung Sook Jeong
- Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea
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Henderson DW, Jones ML, De Klerk N, Leigh J, Musk AW, Shilkin KB, Williams VM. The Diagnosis and Attribution of Asbestos-related Diseases in an Australian Context: Report of the Adelaide Workshop on Asbestos-related Diseases. October 6–7, 2000. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 2013; 10:40-6. [PMID: 15070024 DOI: 10.1179/oeh.2004.10.1.40] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Abstract
Predictions of future cases of mesothelioma in Australia to the year 2020 are in the order of a total of 10,000 new cases. Compensation claims are testing the attribution in a particular case between occupational asbestos exposure and lung cancer. The cost of the problem necessitates clarifying and standardizing the criteria for a confident diagnosis of asbestos-related disease. The possibility of differences in criteria that determine attribution of asbestos to a disease prompted a consensus meeting of pathologists, epidemiologists, physicians, oncologists, radiologists, and others to define current thinking and to agree on an Australian document based on the scientific evidence for establishing diagnoses and attribution data of asbestos-related diseases in Australia. The participants' findings are reported.
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de Klerk NH, Musk AW, Eccles JL, Hansen J, Hobbs MS. Exposure to crocidolite and the incidence of different histological types of lung cancer. Occup Environ Med 1996; 53:157-9. [PMID: 8704855 PMCID: PMC1128437 DOI: 10.1136/oem.53.3.157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To estimate the relations between exposure to both tobacco smoke and crocidolite and the incidence of various histological types of lung cancer. METHODS In 1979 all former workers from the Wittenoom asbestos industry who could be traced were sent a questionnaire on smoking history. Of 2928 questionnaires sent, satisfactory replies were received from 2400 men and 149 women. Of the men, 80% had smoked at some time and 50% still smoked. Occupational exposure to crocidolite was known from employment records and follow up was maintained through death and cancer registries in Australia with histological diagnoses obtained from the relevant State Cancer Registry. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the effects of tobacco and asbestos exposure on incidence of different cell types of lung cancer in a nested case-control design. RESULTS Between 1979 and 1990, 71 cases of lung cancer occurred among men in this cohort: 27% squamous cell carcinoma, 31% adenocarcinoma, 18% small cell carcinoma, 11% large cell carcinoma, and 13% unclassified or indeterminate. Two of the classified cases and one unclassified case had never smoked. The incidence of both squamous and adenocarcinoma types of lung cancer were greatest in ex-smokers and in those subjects with the highest levels of exposure to crocidolite. After adjustment for smoking habit, the increase in incidence of lung cancer with increasing exposure to crocidolite was greater for squamous cell carcinoma than for adenocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS The results from this study have shown significant exposure-response effects for exposure to crocidolite, and both adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. They also provide some further evidence against the theory that parenchymal fibrosis induced by asbestos is a necessary precursor to asbestos induced lung cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- N H de Klerk
- Department of Public Health, University of Western Australia
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