Relative burden of lung and pleural cancers from exposure to asbestos: a cross-sectional analysis of occupational mortality in England and Wales.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To explore the extent to which asbestos-exposed jobs vary in the ratio of excess mortality from lung cancer to deaths from pleural cancer.

Design

Using data on underlying cause of death and last full-time occupation for 3 688 916 deaths among men aged 20-74 years in England and Wales during 1979-2010, we calculated proportional mortality ratios (PMRs), standardised for age and social class, with all occupations combined as reference. For each of 22 asbestos-exposed job groups with significantly elevated PMRs for pleural cancer, we calculated excess mortality from lung cancer (observed minus expected deaths) and its ratio to number of deaths from pleural cancer. To reduce confounding effects of smoking, we adjusted expected deaths from lung cancer in each job group

SUBMITTER: Harris EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7245407 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature