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Epidemiological Surveillance Systems of Asbestos-Related Diseases
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Epidemiological Surveillance Systems of Asbestos-Related Diseases

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Occupational Safety and Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 April 2023) | Viewed by 8924

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alessandro Marinaccio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Unit of Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology, Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy
Interests: occupational and environmental epidemiology; occupational cancer; asbestos-related diseases; injuries and occupational diseases; climate change and occupational health and safety; epidemiological surveillance systems
Dr. Diana Gagliardi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority (INAIL), 00143 Rome, Italy
Interests: occupational health; environmental and public health; risk assessment; risk management; work accidents and occupational diseases; occupational health services
Dr. Alessandra Binazzi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Unit of Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology, Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), 00100 Roma, Italy
Interests: occupational and environmental epidemiology; occupational cancer; asbestos-related diseases; injuries and occupational diseases; nasal cancer; epidemiological surveillance systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Global Burden of Disease estimates asbestos exposure, both in occupational and environmental settings, to cause annually around 255,000 deaths worldwide and an impressive amount in social costs and human suffering. There is undisputable evidence that exposure to asbestos causes malignant mesothelioma and lung, larynx and ovarian cancers. Furthermore, positive associations of asbestos with pharynx, stomach and colorectum cancers have been recognized.

The epidemiological surveillance of asbestos-related diseases is a fundamental tool for monitoring the spread of health effects of asbestos use in the past, for identifying unexpected sources of contamination of asbestos in work settings and in the environment, for supporting the insurance systems in providing compensations for occupational diseases efficiently.

Actually, in a substantial range of countries in which asbestos production, import and use has been banned, there are significant experiences of epidemiological surveillance systems of mesothelioma incident cases or mortality. However, territorial coverage, inclusion criteria, diagnostic methods for coding and classifying cases and the modalities of investigation of asbestos exposure generally differ across countries, and reliable experiences of surveillance in countries still using asbestos are scarce.

This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of epidemiological surveillance systems of asbestos-related diseases. Papers dealing with the perspective of harmonizing methods among countries and commentaries from countries where asbestos is not banned are also welcome.

Dr. Alessandro Marinaccio
Dr. Diana Gagliardi
Dr. Alessandra Binazzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • asbestos-related diseases
  • epidemiological surveillance systems
  • asbestos exposure
  • occupational cancer registry
  • occupational and environmental epidemiology

Published Papers (4 papers)

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16 pages, 2944 KiB  
Article
The Epidemiological Surveillance of Mesothelioma Mortality in Italy as a Tool for the Prevention of Asbestos Exposure
by Lucia Fazzo, Giada Minelli, Marco De Santis, Emiliano Ceccarelli, Ivano Iavarone and Amerigo Zona
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(11), 5957; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20115957 - 25 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1823
Abstract
As part of a surveillance plan active since the early 1990s, this study evaluates malignant mesothelioma (MM) mortality for the time-window 2010–2019 in Italy, a country that banned asbestos in 1992. National and regional mortality rates for MM, and municipal standardized mortality ratios [...] Read more.
As part of a surveillance plan active since the early 1990s, this study evaluates malignant mesothelioma (MM) mortality for the time-window 2010–2019 in Italy, a country that banned asbestos in 1992. National and regional mortality rates for MM, and municipal standardized mortality ratios (all mesotheliomas, pleural (MPM) and peritoneal (MPeM)), by gender and age group were calculated. A municipal clustering analysis was also performed. There were 15,446 deaths from MM (11,161 males, 3.8 × 100,000; 4285 females, 1.1 × 100,000), of which 12,496 were MPM and 661 were MPeM. In the study period, 266 people ≤50 years died from MM. A slightly decreasing rate among males since 2014 was observed. The areas at major risk hosted asbestos-cement plants, asbestos mines (chrysotile in Balangero), shipyards, petrochemical and chemical plants, and refineries. Female mortality excesses particularly were found in municipalities with a fluoro-edenite-contaminated mine (Biancavilla) and textile facilities. Excesses were also found in a region with the presence of natural asbestos fibres and in males living in two small islands. The Italian National Prevention Plan stated recommendations to eliminate asbestos exposures and to implement health surveillance and healthcare for people exposed to asbestos. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiological Surveillance Systems of Asbestos-Related Diseases)
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12 pages, 318 KiB  
Article
Laying the Foundation for a Mesothelioma Patient Registry: Development of Data Collection Tools
by Joanna M. Gaitens, Melissa Culligan, Joseph S. Friedberg, Erica Glass, Maxwell Reback, Katherine A. Scilla, Ashutosh Sachdeva, Anthony Atalla and Melissa A. McDiarmid
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 4950; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20064950 - 11 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2432
Abstract
Mesothelioma, a cancer of mesothelial cells that line the chest, lungs, heart, and abdomen, is a relatively rare disease. In the United States, approximately 3000 individuals are diagnosed with mesothelioma annually. The primary risk factor for mesothelioma is occupational asbestos exposure which can [...] Read more.
Mesothelioma, a cancer of mesothelial cells that line the chest, lungs, heart, and abdomen, is a relatively rare disease. In the United States, approximately 3000 individuals are diagnosed with mesothelioma annually. The primary risk factor for mesothelioma is occupational asbestos exposure which can occur decades prior to disease development, though in approximately 20% of cases, known asbestos exposure is lacking. While several other countries have developed mesothelioma registries to collect key clinical and exposure data elements to allow better estimation of incidence, prevalence, and risk factors associated with disease development, no national mesothelioma registry exists in the U.S. Therefore, as part of a larger feasibility study, a patient exposure questionnaire and a clinical data collection tool were created using a series of key informant interviews. Findings suggest that risk factor and clinical data collection via an on-line questionnaire is feasible, but specific concerns related to confidentiality, in the context of employer responsibility for exposure in the unique U.S. legal environment, and timing of enrollment must be addressed. Lessons learned from piloting these tools will inform the design and implementation of a mesothelioma registry of national scope. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiological Surveillance Systems of Asbestos-Related Diseases)
13 pages, 1996 KiB  
Article
The Brazilian System for Monitoring Workers and General Population Exposed to Asbestos: Development, Challenges, and Opportunities for Workers’ Health Surveillance
by Rafael Junqueira Buralli, Regina Dal Castel Pinheiro, Laura Lima Susviela, Sandra Renata Canale Duracenko, Eduardo Mello De Capitani, Alexandre Savaris and Eduardo Algranti
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4295; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054295 - 28 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1603
Abstract
The lack of safe levels of asbestos exposure and the long latency of asbestos-related disease (ARD) makes workers’ health surveillance challenging, especially in lower-income countries. This paper aims to present the recently developed Brazilian system for monitoring workers and general population exposed to [...] Read more.
The lack of safe levels of asbestos exposure and the long latency of asbestos-related disease (ARD) makes workers’ health surveillance challenging, especially in lower-income countries. This paper aims to present the recently developed Brazilian system for monitoring workers and general population exposed to asbestos (Datamianto), and to discuss the main challenges and opportunities for workers’ health surveillance. Methods: a descriptive study of the Datamianto development process, examining all the stages of system planning, development, improvement, validation, availability, and training of health services for its use, in addition to presenting the main challenges and opportunities for its implementation. Results: The system was developed by a group of software developers, workers’ health specialists, and practitioners, and it was recently incorporated by the Ministry of Health to be used for workers’ health surveillance. It can facilitate the monitoring of exposed individuals, epidemiological data analysis, promote cooperation between health services, and ensure periodical medical screening guaranteed to workers by labor legislation. Moreover, the system has a Business Intelligence (BI) platform to analyze epidemiologic data and produce near real-time reports. Conclusions: Datamianto can support and qualify the healthcare and surveillance of asbestos-exposed workers and ARD, promoting a better quality of life for workers and improving companies’ compliance with legislation. Even so, the system’s significance, applicability, and longevity will depend on the efforts aimed at its implementation and improvement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiological Surveillance Systems of Asbestos-Related Diseases)
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24 pages, 480 KiB  
Perspective
The Italian Experience in the Development of Mesothelioma Registries: A Pathway for Other Countries to Address the Negative Legacy of Asbestos
by Corrado Magnani, Carolina Mensi, Alessandra Binazzi, Daniela Marsili, Federica Grosso, Juan Pablo Ramos-Bonilla, Daniela Ferrante, Enrica Migliore, Dario Mirabelli, Benedetto Terracini, Dario Consonni, Daniela Degiovanni, Michela Lia, María Fernanda Cely-García, Margarita Giraldo, Benjamin Lysaniuk, Pietro Comba and Alessandro Marinaccio
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(2), 936; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20020936 - 4 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2202
Abstract
Asbestos (all forms, including chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite) is carcinogenic to humans and causally associated with mesothelioma and cancer of the lung, larynx, and ovary. It is one of the carcinogens most diffuse in the world, in workplaces, but also [...] Read more.
Asbestos (all forms, including chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite) is carcinogenic to humans and causally associated with mesothelioma and cancer of the lung, larynx, and ovary. It is one of the carcinogens most diffuse in the world, in workplaces, but also in the environment and is responsible for a very high global cancer burden. A large number of countries, mostly with high-income economies, has banned the use of asbestos which, however, is still widespread in low- and middle-income countries. It remains, thus, one of the most common occupational and environmental carcinogens worldwide. Italy issued an asbestos ban in 1992, following the dramatic observation of a large increase in mortality from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases in exposed workers and also in subjects with non-occupational exposure. A mesothelioma registry was also organized and still monitors the occurrence of mesothelioma cases, conducting a case-by-case evaluation of asbestos exposure. In this report, we describe two Italian communities, Casale Monferrato and Broni, that faced an epidemic of mesothelioma resulting from the production of asbestos cement and the diffuse environmental exposure; we present the activity and results of the Italian mesothelioma registry (ReNaM), describe the risk-communication activities at the local and national level with a focus on international cooperation and also describe the interaction between mesothelioma registration and medical services specialized in mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment in an area at high risk of mesothelioma. Finally, we assess the potential application of the solutions and methods already developed in Italy in a city in Colombia with high mesothelioma incidence associated with the production of asbestos-cement materials and the presence of diffuse environmental asbestos pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Epidemiological Surveillance Systems of Asbestos-Related Diseases)
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