Abstract
Objectives: To examine the asbestos-associated cancer incidence and the risk of multiple cancers in former school children exposed to environmental asbestos in childhood. Methods: A cohort of 12,111 former school children, born 1940–1970, was established using 7th grade school records from four schools located at a distance of 100–750 m in the prevailing wind direction from a large asbestos-cement plant that operated from 1928 to 1984 in Aalborg, Denmark. Using the unique Danish personal identification number, we linked information on employments, relatives’ employments, date of cancer diagnosis, and type of cancer and vital status to data on cohortees extracted from the Supplementary Pension Fund Register (employment history), the Danish Cancer Registry, and the Danish Civil Registration System. We calculated standardized incidence rates (SIRs) for asbestos-associated cancers, all cancers, and multiple cancers using rates for a gender and five-year frequency-matched reference cohort. Results: The overall incidence of cancer was modestly increased for the school cohort (SIR 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.12) compared with the reference cohort. This excess was driven primarily by a significantly increased SIR for malignant mesothelioma (SIR 8.77, 95% CI 6.38–12.05). Former school children who had combined childhood environmental and subsequent occupational exposure to asbestos had a significantly increased risk of lung cancer. Within this group, those with additional household exposure by a relative had a significantly increased SIR for cancer of the pharynx (SIR 4.24, 95% CI 1.59–11.29). We found no significant difference in the number of subjects diagnosed with multiple cancers between the two cohorts. Conclusions: Our study confirms the strong association between environmental asbestos exposure and malignant mesothelioma and suggests that environmental asbestos exposure in childhood may increase the overall cancer risk later in life.
Highlights
Health risks associated with asbestos exposure, including the risk of certain cancers, have been known for many years, but research has been devoted mainly to occupationalInt
We found the standardized incidence ratio (SIR) for lung cancer to be significantly higher for the school children exposed to both environmental and occupational asbestos (SIR 1.34, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.72) than for the reference cohort, which suggests that the increase may originate in particular from occupational exposure, since no effect was observed in the groups without occupational exposure
Both the incidence of malignant mesothelioma and the overall cancer incidence were significantly increased among our cohort of former school children who attended school and lived near a large asbestos cement plant
Summary
Health risks associated with asbestos exposure, including the risk of certain cancers, have been known for many years, but research has been devoted mainly to occupationalInt. Health risks associated with asbestos exposure, including the risk of certain cancers, have been known for many years, but research has been devoted mainly to occupational. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 268 asbestos exposure or exposure in adults in general, and rarely to asbestos exposure in childhood [1]. Asbestos continues to be used around the world This poses a risk for those working with asbestos, and for the general population, including children who are exposed to environmental asbestos [2,3,4,5,6,7]. The IARC has found a positive association between asbestos exposure and cancer of the pharynx, stomach, colon, and rectum, though the epidemiological evidence for these cancers is limited. The primary routes of exposure to asbestos are inhalation and ingestion [8]
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