Environmental household exposures to asbestos and occurrence of pleural mesothelioma.
We reviewed the certificates of 39,650 deaths which occurred in the period 1975-1988 in Leghorn and of 45,900 in La Spezia (Italy) in the period 1958-1988. In total 262 cases have been recorded as pleural mesothelioma. The main occupational exposures occurred in the shipbuilding industry. Regarding non-occupational exposures to asbestos, 13 cases of mesothelioma were found in women who had washed the work clothes of their relatives at home; we also found other domestic uses of asbestos which were rarely or never discussed previously in the literature: six cases might be explained by the installation of fireproof or non-conductive materials in the domestic environment. These exposures probably are more frequent than realized until now.
Dodoli
D
D
Unit of Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
Del Nevo
M
M
Fiumalbi
C
C
Iaia
T E
TE
Cristaudo
A
A
Comba
P
P
Viti
C
C
Battista
G
G
D001194:Asbestos / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*
D001194:Asbestos