title: Occupational exposure to asbestos and cardiovascular related diseases: A meta-analysis.
abstract: Asbestos has become one of the leading causes of death among occupational workers in the world. The association between asbestos and cardiovascular disease is less reported. We performed a meta-analysis to quantify the association between asbestos exposure and the mortality of cardiovascular related diseases. We performed a systematic review in the PubMed database before December 2014. All cohort studies citing the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of cardiovascular related diseases in workers exposed to asbestos were collected. We then calculated the pooled standardized mortality ratios of such diseases. Sixteen studies were included. The combined results from all studies indicated the pooled SMR estimate for cardiovascular related diseases was 1.11 (95% CI, 1.01-1.22). This meta-analysis showed that asbestos exposure significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular related diseases in exposed workers.
authors: Department of Occupational & Environmental Health and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China; Longhua New District for Disease Control and Prevention, Shenzhen, 518109 Guangdong, China.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Rong
authors: Department of Occupational & Environmental Health and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors: Xin
authors: X
authors: Luo
authors: Department of Occupational & Environmental Health and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors: Zhihong
authors: Z
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Occupational & Environmental Health and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors: Xiuqing
authors: X
authors: Cui
authors: Department of Occupational & Environmental Health and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors: Yuewei
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Occupational & Environmental Health and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
authors: Weihong
authors: W
authors: Chen
keywords: AHD, All heart diseases; Asbestos; CD, Circulatory diseases; CI, Confidence interval; Cardiovascular diseases; IHD, Ischemic heart disease; Meta-analysis; ODH, Other diseases of the heart; PHD, Pulmonary heart diseases; SEs, Standard errors; SMR; SMR, Standard mortality ratio