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Mapping the Risk of Mesothelioma Due to Neighborhood Asbestos Exposure

¹ Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Nara Medical University School of Medicine, Kashihara; and ² Department of Environmental Health, Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Osaka, Japan

Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Norio Kurumatani, M.D., Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Nara Medical University School of Medicine, 840 Shijyocho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8521, Japan. E-mail: knorio{at}naramed-u.ac.jp

Rationale: Little is known about neighborhood exposure to asbestos and mesothelioma risk among residents around an industrial source of asbestos.

Objectives: To investigate the magnitude of the risk among residents by asbestos exposure levels and to determine the range of the area affected by asbestos.

Methods: We calculated standardized mortality ratios of mesothelioma from 1995 to 2006 among the estimated population at risk that lived around a former large asbestos cement pipe plant in Amagasaki City, Japan, between 1957 and 1975, the time when the plant had used crocidolite and chrysotile. The distance between the plant and homes and relative asbestos concentrations obtained by diffusion equations involving meteorological conditions were used to determine asbestos exposure levels among residents.

Measurements and Main Results: We identified 73 mesothelioma deaths of 35 men and 38 women who had no occupational exposure to asbestos. Among persons who had lived within a 300-m radius of the plant, the standardized mortality ratio of mesothelioma was 13.9 (95% confidence interval, 5.6–28.7) for men and 41.1 (95% confidence interval, 15.2–90.1) for women. When the study area was divided into five regions by relative asbestos concentration, standardized mortality ratios of mesothelioma declined, for both sexes, in a linear dose-dependent manner with concentration. The regions with a significantly elevated standardized mortality ratio reached 2,200 m from the plant in the same direction in which the wind predominantly blew.

Conclusions: Neighborhood exposure to asbestos can pose a serious risk to residents across a wide area.

Key Words: relative asbestos concentration • crocidolite • environmental exposure • pleural mesothelioma

AT A GLANCE COMMENTARY Scientific Knowledge on the Subject There are few studies on the range of the area affected by neighborhood exposure to asbestos of industrial origin. Residential distance correlates with an increased risk of mesothelioma. However, meteorological factors have not been considered. What This Study Adds to the Field A dose–response relation, involving meteorological conditions, was observed between the risk of mesothelioma and relative asbestos concentrations. The area with a significantly increased risk reached 2,200 m from an emission point of asbestos.

 

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