title: Asbestos related diseases in Italy: an integrated approach to identify unexpected professional or environmental exposure risks at municipal level.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Past intensive use of asbestos has implied severe public health consequences. Spatial distribution of deaths from malignant mesothelioma and of compensated cases for asbestos related diseases in Italy were compared to identify unexpected sources of asbestos exposure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mortality for malignant mesothelioma at municipal level and geographical clusters of compensated cases for asbestos related diseases, as proxy of industrial asbestos exposure, were identified in the period 1988-2001.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Municipalities with at least four mesothelioma deaths and a statistically significant mortality excess were 148; and 53 out of them had no compensated case for asbestos-related diseases. Finally 22 of these lay outside of any aforementioned cluster, thus suggestive of a possible unrecognized exposure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Availability long-term national figures and the different etiology of asbestos related diseases are the key features of this exercise that was applied to Italy, but can be replicated wherever registration systems of diseases related to long term exposure to asbestos are available.
authors: Department of Occupational Medicine, Italian National Institute for Occupational Safety and Prevention, Rome, Italy. alessandro.marinaccio@ispesl.it
authors: Alessandro
authors: A
authors: Marinaccio
authors: Alberto
authors: A
authors: Scarselli
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Binazzi
authors: Pierluigi
authors: P
authors: Altavista
authors: Stefano
authors: S
authors: Belli
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Mastrantonio
authors: Roberto
authors: R
authors: Pasetto
authors: Raffaella
authors: R
authors: Uccelli
authors: Pietro
authors: P
authors: Comba
mesh_terms: D001194:Asbestos / Q000506:poisoning*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality; D012107:Research Design; D018570:Risk Assessment
chemical_list: D001194:Asbestos