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Objectives: In Italy, asbestos was used intensively until its ban in 1992, which was extended for asbestos cement factories until 1994. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dose–response between asbestos exposure and asbestosis mortality across a pool of Italian occupational cohorts, taking into account the presence of competing risks. Methods: Cohorts were followed for vital status and the cause of death was ascertained by a linkage with mortality registers. Cause‐specific (CS) Cox‐regression models were used to evaluate the dose‐exposure relationship between asbestosis mortality and the time‐dependent cumulative exposure index (CEI) to asbestos. Fine and Gray regression models were computed to assess the effect of competing risks of death. Results: The cohort included 12,963 asbestos cement workers. During the follow‐up period (1960−2012), of a total of 6961 deaths, we observed 416 deaths attributed to asbestosis, 879 to lung cancer, 400 to primary pleural cancer, 135 to peritoneal cancer, and 1825 to diseases of the circulatory system. The CS model showed a strong association between CEI and asbestosis mortality. Dose–response models estimated an increasing trend in mortality even below a CEI of 25 ff/mL‐years. Lung cancer and circulatory diseases were the main competing causes of death. Conclusions: Asbestos exposure among Italian asbestos‐cement workers has led to a very high number of deaths from asbestosis and asbestos‐related diseases. The increasing risk trend associated with excess deaths, even at low exposure levels, suggests that the proposed limit values would not have been adequate to prevent disability and mortality from asbestosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of La Medicina del Lavoro is the property of Mattioli 1885 SpA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of La Medicina del Lavoro is the property of Mattioli 1885 SpA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Asbestos is a known human carcinogen and is causally associated with malignant mesothelioma, lung, larynx and ovarian cancers., Methods: Cancer risk was studied among a pool of formerly asbestos-exposed workers in Italy. Fifty-two Italian asbestos cohorts (asbestos-cement, rolling-stock, shipbuilding, and other) were pooled and their mortality follow-up was updated to 2018. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were computed for major causes of death considering duration of exposure and time since first exposure (TSFE), using reference rates by region, age and calendar period., Results: The study included 63,502 subjects (57,156 men and 6346 women): 40% who were alive, 58% who died (cause known for 92%), and 2% lost to follow-up. Mortality was increased for all causes (SMR: men = 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.05; women = 1.15, 95% CI 1.11-1.18), all malignancies (SMR: men = 1.21, 95% CI 1.18-1.23; women = 1.29, 95% CI 1.22-1.37), pleural and peritoneal malignancies (men: SMR = 10.46, 95% CI 9.86-11.09 and 4.29, 95% CI 3.66-5.00; women: SMR = 27.13, 95% CI 23.29-31.42 and 7.51, 95% CI 5.52-9.98), lung (SMR: men = 1.28, 95% CI 1.24-1.32; women = 1.26, 95% CI 1.02-1.53), and ovarian cancer (SMR = 1.42, 95% CI 1.08-1.84). Pleural cancer mortality increased during the first 40 years of TSFE (latency), reaching a plateau thereafter., Conclusions: Analyses by time-dependent variables showed that the risk for pleural neoplasms increased with latency and no longer increases at long TSFE, consistent with with asbestos clearance from the lungs. Peritoneal neoplasm risk increased over all observation time., (© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Industrial Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: Italy has been a large user of asbestos and asbestos containing materials until the 1992 ban. We present a pooled cohort study on long-term mortality in exposed workers., Methods: Pool of 43 Italian asbestos cohorts (asbestos cement, rolling stock, shipbuilding, glasswork, harbors, insulation and other industries). SMRs were computed by industrial sector for the 1970-2010 period, for the major causes, using reference rates by age, sex, region and calendar period., Results: The study included 51 801 subjects (5741 women): 55.9% alive, 42.6% died (cause known for 95%) and 1.5% lost to follow-up. Asbestos exposure was estimated at the plant and period levels. Asbestos related mortality was significantly increased. All industrial sectors showed increased mortality from pleural malignancies, and most also from peritoneal and lung cancer and asbestosis, with exposure related trend. Increased mortality was also observed for ovarian cancer and for bladder cancer., Discussion: The study confirmed the increased risk for cancer of the lung, ovary, pleura and peritoneum but not of the larynx and the digestive tract. A large increase in mortality from asbestosis was observed.

This study aims at investigating, in asbestos exposed workers, the time trend of their risk of mesothelioma and of other neoplasm after very long latency and after the cessation of asbestos exposure. We pooled a large number of Italian cohorts of asbestos workers and updated mortality follow-up. The pool of data for statistical analyses includes 51,988 workers, of which 6,058 women: 54.2% was alive at follow-up, 42.6% was dead, and 2.8%was lost. Cause of death is known for 94.3%: 2,548 deaths from lung cancer, 748 frompleural cancer, 173 fromperitoneal cancer, and 434 from asbestosis. An exposure index is being developed to compare the different cohorts. Data analysis is in progress. This study will have the size for analysing not only time trends in mesothelioma, but also the occurrence of rarer diseases and cancer specific mortality in women.

Protection of working mothers: operational guide document. The aim of this operational guide document is to protect the health of working mothers and their babies during pregnancy, puerperium and breastfeeding. The project was developed by a technical working group which included professionals in the pertinent fields from the Workplace Prevention and Safety Services of the local Vasta-2 Area of the Marche Regional Health Service:physicians, health assistants, and nurses. It is considered to be a useful tool for risk assessment at the workplace aimed at professionals who are involved, with various duties and responsibilities, in the health care of the working mother. This paper consists of two functionally related sections, "Table of risks" and "Technical specifications". In the "Table of Risks" section, the occupational hazards for women during pregnancy or postpartum were analyzed with the highest possible degree of care. To this end the technical group provided, for each occupational hazard, its own operational suggestions, in relation to legislation, current scientific knowledge and Guidelines of other Italian Regions. The Marche Regional Section of the Italian Society of Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene (SIMLII) participated in the final draft of the entire document. The second section, "Technical Specifications", illustrates the main tasks and any risks involved in the 34 manufacturing sectors most prevalent in this area. This operational guide document is intended to be the beginning of a common strategy in public health to achieve a wider field of action in promotion and information aimed at protecting the reproductive health of working mothers.

Background: A factory that produced asbestos-cement products, using chrysotile, amosite and crocidolite in very low percentages, cement and water, operated in Senigallia from 1948 to 1984. Workers and residents still living in Senigallia are 238., Objectives: The need for an organic response to requests by former workers for protection of health and recognition of occupational diseases induced the Prevention and Safety at the Workplace Service in Senigallia/Area Vasta 2 to implement a programme of health surveillance., Methods: In 2010 a health surveillance programme was initiated that involved 158 subjects, 58 women and 100 men. The average age of men was 75 years and 70 for women. The time elapsed between first exposure and participation in the programme was on average 50 years (SD 7.49). The average number of years of exposure to asbestos fibres was 17 (SD 10.36). The programme included counselling activities, especially as regards cessation of smoking, and first and second level health checks., Results: The health surveillance programme enabled us to diagnose pleural plaques and pleural thickening in 81% of the subjects and various degrees of interstitial abnormalities in 49.4%. The high percentage of asbestos-related diseases was connected mainly with the long latency of the population under study and the higher diagnostic sensitivity of low dose chest CT scan applied to these diseases., Conclusions: In our experience, in order to optimize the benefits of a health surveillance programme of former workers exposed to asbestos, it will be advisable to define parameters of access to the programme for individual subjects in relation to life expectancy, clinical conditions, time elapsed since first exposure, time of cessation of exposure. Such parameters, together with any risk factors, will influence the diagnostic process.