Environmental asbestos exposure and nonmalignant pleural findings: a retrospective evaluation of a five-year chest CT repository

Abstract

This registry-based case-control study aimed to assess the association between asbestos deposits in the birthplace and/or residence and nonmalignant pleural findings, namely pleural plaques (PPs) and pleural thickening (PT), on chest CT scans. In total, 39,472 CT scans obtained over five years in a tertiary referral hospital in Ankara, Turkey, were evaluated. Cases involving patients with PP (n = 537), PT (n = 263), PP&PT (n = 69), and controls (n = 543) from the same study base without those conditions were included. Each case group was compared to controls using unconditional logistic regression. The presence of asbestos deposits in the district of birthplace (adjusted OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.35-3.37) and both birthplace and residence (aOR = 4.32, 95% CI: 2.26-8.27) was significantly related to the PPs. As the importance of environmental asbestos exposure in Turkey continues, future prospective studies could contribute to developing screening strategies.

Keywords:

• Asbestos
• environment
• environmental exposure

Acknowledgment

The preliminary findings of this study were presented as a poster presentation at the Turkish Thoracic Society’s 21^th Annual Congress (Antalya, Turkey, 11-15 April 2018).

Contributors

AS planned, coordinated, participated in data collection, performed statistical analysis of data, and wrote and submitted the manuscript. SME participated in the study design, data collection, statistical analysis of data, writing and correcting the manuscript. AK, GD, MGA participated in the study design, data collection, and correcting the manuscript. LC participated in study design and in writing and correcting the manuscript. AUD participated in the statistical analysis of data and in writing the manuscript.

Competing interests

None declared.

Patient consent for publication

Not required.

Ethics approval

The study protocol was approved by the Hacettepe University Non-interventional Clinical Researches Ethics Board (decision number GO 17/841-27).

Data availability statement

The entire data of this study cannot be shared publicly because it contains sensitive patient information and location data. Researchers must inform the Research Ethics Committee of their research’s purpose and obtain approval for access to the data. For data inquiries about this research, you can contact or send an email to the administrator from the ethics committee of Hacettepe University Non-interventional Clinical Researches Ethics Board. Email: [email protected].

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.