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Asbestos-related disease

A note from our CEO
Section I: Taking action to eliminate asbestos-related diseases
Actions leading to national bans on asbestos
Towards a global ban on asbestos
International bilateral & multilateral mechanisms
History of Mining, consumption production and use of asbestos
Transitioning to alternative non-asbestos materials
Proactive removal of ageing legacy asbestos materials
Section II: Country summaries, case studies and resources
Country summaries
Case studies
Research on ARDs
Section III: What asbestos is and the risks it poses
What asbestos is and how to identify it
Exposure pathways
Asbestos removal, management and disposal
Asbestos in fibres in drinking water
Public health risks from asbestos cement products
Section IV: Health impacts of exposure to asbestos
What are asbestos-related diseases
How are asbestos-related diseases diagnosed?
Can ARDs be treated?
Patient support, care and information
Reporting, coding and registration of ARDs

Italy: Peritoneal mesothelioma and asbestos exposure: a population-based case–control study in Italy, 2000–2021

Abstract

Objectives: 

Using a case–control design, we examined the association between occupational asbestos exposure and risk of peritoneal mesothelioma in the general population in Italy. 

Methods: 

From the National Mesothelioma Registry, we selected cases (2000–2021) with life-time occupational history. Controls were 3045 from three case–control studies (region-sex-age-matched, performed in six regions), one in 2002–2004 (2116 population controls) and two in 2012–2016 (718 population and 211 hospital controls). For all subjects, exposure assignment was based on a quantitative job-exposure matrix (SYN-JEM). Qualitative expert-based evaluation was available for all cases, but only in 2012–2016 for 929 controls. We estimated ORs and 90% CIs using logistic regression models adjusted for residence, gender, period and age. 

Results: 

In complete analyses (1591 cases, all years/regions), the OR for ever exposure was 3.66 (CI 3.21 to 4.18, 45.4% cases and 27.8% controls exposed). Among the exposed, median cumulative exposure (fibres/mL-years) was 1.4 (max 20.0) in cases and 1.1 (max 10.9) in controls. The OR was 1.55 (1.48 to 1.62) per log10-transformed cumulative exposure. In analyses restricted to 290 cases (same years/regions of controls), ORs were 3.35 (2.57 to 4.37, 43.8% cases exposed) for ever exposure and 1.52 (1.39 to 1.65) for cumulative exposure. ORs for ever asbestos exposure using expert-based evaluation were particularly high, 4.32 (3.50 to 5.34, 53.9% cases and 26.4% controls exposed) in complete analyses (778 cases) and 6.35 (4.58 to 8.81, 57.1% cases exposed) in restricted analyses (245 cases) but are known to be more prone to bias. 

Conclusions: 

Peritoneal mesothelioma showed clear associations with asbestos exposure using different exposure assessment methods.

References

Occup Environ Med 2025; 82:495–503. https://oem.bmj.com/content/82/10/495 Dario Consonni, Enrica Migliore, Manuela Gangemi, Domenica Cavone, Luigi Vimercati, Sara Piro, Lucia Giovannetti, Valentina Zabeo, Vera Comiati, Stefania Curti, Stefano Mattioli, Maria Teresa Landi, Carmela Gioscia, Silvia Eccher, Stefano Murano, Flavia D’Agostin, Carlo Genova, Riccardo Perduri, Iolanda Grappasonni, Fabrizio Stracci, Ilaria Cozzi, Tommaso Staniscia, Franco Calista, Italo Francesco Angelillo, Rocco Galasso, Federico Tallarigo, Giuseppe Cascone, Massimo Melis, Susan Peters, Hans Kromhout, Alessandra Binazzi, Alessandro Marinaccio, Carolina Mensi.

Peritoneal mesothelioma and asbestos exposure: a population-based case–control study in Italy, 2000–2021

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