Occup Environ Med. Published Online First: 28 November 2007. doi:10.1136/oem.2007.034280
Original Article |
Mortality Of Former Crocidolite (Blue Asbestos) Miners And Millers At Wittenoom
1 Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Australia
2 Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Australia
3 University of Western Australia, Australia
4 Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, Australia
5 National Health System, Italy
6 University of Sydney, Australia
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bill.musk{at}health.wa.gov.au.
Accepted 21 November 2007
Abstract
Introduction: Blue asbestos was mined and milled at Wittenoom in Western Australia between 1943 and 1966. Methods: 7000 male workers who worked at the Wittenoom mine and mill have been followed up at death and cancer registries throughout Australia and Italy to the end of 2000. Person years at risk were derived using two censoring dates in order to produce a minimum and maximum estimate of asbestos effect. Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMRs) compare the mortality of the former Wittenoom workers with the Western Australian male population. Results: There have been 190 cases of pleural and 32 cases of peritoneal mesothelioma in this cohort of former workers of Wittenoom. Mortality from Lung cancer (SMR=1.52), Pneumoconiosis (SMR=15.5), Respiratory diseases (SMR=1.58) Tuberculosis (3.06), Digestive diseases (SMR=1.47), Alcoholism (SMR=2.24) and Symptoms, signs and ill defined conditions (SMR=2.00) were greater in this cohort compared to the Western Australian male population. Conclusion: Asbestos related diseases particularly malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer and pneumoconiosis continue to dominate as the main causes of excess mortality in the former blue asbestos miners and millers of Wittenoom.
Keywords: Wittenoom, asbestos related diseases, crocidolite, mortality
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Loomis, D.
(2008). Work in Brief. Occup. Environ. Med.
65: i-i
[Full Text]
- Full Text (Rapid PDF)
-
All Versions of this Article:
oem.2007.034280v1
65/8/541 most recent - Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
