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Occup Environ Med 2009;66:169-174 doi:10.1136/oem.2007.038315
  • Original article

Predicted mortality from malignant mesothelioma among women exposed to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, Western Australia

  1. A Reid1,
  2. G Berry2,
  3. J Heyworth1,3,
  4. N H de Klerk1,4,
  5. A W Musk1,5
  1. 1
    School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
  2. 2
    School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  3. 3
    Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
  4. 4
    Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, and Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia
  5. 5
    Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia
  1. A Reid, Occupational Respiratory Epidemiology, School of Population Health, M431, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; alison.reid{at}uwa.edu.au
  • Accepted 3 July 2008
  • Published Online First 19 September 2008

Abstract

Introduction: Nearly 3000 women and girls were documented to have lived at the blue asbestos mining and milling town of Wittenoom in Western Australia between 1943 and 1992. Eight per cent of deaths among these women to the end of 2004 have been from malignant mesothelioma of the pleura.

Aim: To predict future mortality from mesothelioma to 2030 in this cohort.

Methods: Mesothelioma mortality rates incorporating parameters for cumulative exposure, a power of time since first exposure and annual rates of fibre clearance from the lung were calculated from maximum likelihood estimates. These rates plus age specific mortality rates for Western Australian females incorporating an excess lung cancer risk were then applied to all Wittenoom cohort women surviving to the end of 2004, in yearly increments, to predict the future numbers of cases of mesothelioma to 2030.

Results: There were 40 deaths from mesothelioma among the Wittenoom women to the end of 2004. Using a range of models that incorporate time since first exposure, competing risks from other diseases, latency periods and clearance of mesothelioma from the lungs we predict 66 (lowest estimate) to 87 (highest estimate) deaths from mesothelioma until 2030. This represents one and a half to two and a half times the number of deaths that have already occurred to the end of 2004.

Conclusion: The high toll from mesothelioma in this cohort of women and girls will continue well into the future.

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    1. oem.2007.038315v1
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