Table 2

Model goodness of fit and association of lung cancer risk with alternative indicators of exposure to asbestos fibres, estimated by Poisson regression with adjustment for age, sex, race, and calendar time in North Carolina and South Carolina asbestos textile workers, 1940–2003

Exposure indicator	β^*	SE (β)	LR (df)^†	p Value	AIC^‡
Cumulative mean fibre size (μm-y)
Length^§	0.0103	0.0015	41.3 (1)	<0.001	4648
Diameter^§	0.1354	0.0205	37.5 (1)	<0.001	4651
Length +	0.0237	0.0100	43.2 (2)	<0.001	4648
Diameter^¶	−0.1877	0.1401
Mean fibre size (μm)
Length^§	0.1817	0.0573	7.14 (1)	0.008	4682
Diameter^§	2.667	0.9422	5.45 (1)	0.020	4684
Length +	0.2016	0.1543	7.2 (2)	0.028	4654
Diameter^¶	−0.3450	2.4873

↵* β and SE, regression coefficient for 1 unit change and associated SE.
↵† LR (df), likelihood ratio test statistic (equivalent to χ²) with degrees of freedom and associated p value.
↵‡ AIC, Akaike Information Criterion (smaller values indicate better fit).
↵§ Fibre length and diameter fit in separate models.
↵¶ Fibre length and diameter fit simultaneously.