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The Australian Mesothelioma Surveillance Program 1979‐1985
Author(s) -
Ferguson David A.,
Andreas Sally B.,
Rogers Alan J.,
Grimwood Ashraf,
Thompson Rebecca,
Berry Geoffrey,
Fung S. Chung,
Jelihovsky Tatiana
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1987.tb133348.x
Subject(s) - mesothelioma , asbestos , incidence (geometry) , medicine , population , environmental health , epidemiology , demography , pathology , materials science , physics , sociology , optics , metallurgy
The Australian Mesothelioma Surveillance Program was planned in 1977 in order to improve diagnostic criteria, to monitor the incidence of the disease, to develop methods of counting lung fibres, and to explore occupational and other associations of mesothelioma. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of data that were collected between January 1,1980 and December 31, 1985 on the pathological findings and the work and environmental history of 858 cases of mesothelioma. The annual incidence rate of mesothelioma in Australia was 15 per million population who were aged 20 years and over. This is more than the incidence rate of mesothelioma in any other country for which data are available. However, uncertainty over diagnostic criteria and the degree of ascertainment of cases places doubt on the validity of such comparisons. In 69% of cases, a history of work with or other exposure to asbestos was obtained. Due to the long interval between the first exposure to asbestos and the provisional diagnosis of a mesothelioma (up to 60 years), more than three‐quarters of the 456 exposed cases first contacted asbestos in the years of its heavy use between 1930 and 1959. This article analyses cases by the industry and the occupation in which exposure to asbestos first occurred.