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Asbestos and kidney cancer: The evidence supports a causal association
Author(s) -
Smith Allan H.,
Shearn Valerie I.,
Wood Rose
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700160207
Subject(s) - medicine , asbestos , mesothelioma , kidney cancer , lung cancer , cancer , asbestosis , kidney , pathology , lung , materials science , metallurgy
The role of asbestos in the etiology of lung cancer and of mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum has been well documented. The evidence for a causal association between asbestos and other human cancers is not as extensive but suggests that asbestos may be carcinogenic at several different sites. This paper is concerned specifically with a possible causal association between asbestos and human kidney cancer. A review of the evidence to date indicates that only three human studies have sufficient statistical power to detect an excess mortality from kidney cancer among workers exposed to asbestos. All three were occupational cohort studies, and two of these gave strong direct evidence for such an excess; a study of U.S. insulators (kidney cancer SMR = 2.22, 90% CI 1.44–3.30), and a study of U.S. asbestos products company workers (kidney cancer SMR = 2.76, 90% CI 1.29–5.18). The third study, of Italian shipyard workers, reported excess mortality from “cancers of the kidney, urinary bladder, and other urinary organs” (SMR = 1.98, 90% CI 1.42–2.70). Further support for a causal association includes studies finding asbestos fibers in human kidneys and urine, as well as reports of kidney tumors in two animal bioassays. It is concluded that asbestos should be regarded as a probable cause of human kidney cancer.