Asbestos-related chest X-ray changes among greek merchant marine seamen
✍ Scribed by Emmanuel G. Velonakis; Athina Tsorva; Anastasia Tzonou; Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1989
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 380 KB
- Volume
- 15
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0271-3586
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✦ Synopsis
One hundred forty-one retired Greek mariners were examined radiologically for asbestos-related lung disease. Thirty-eight (27%) had small opacities classified as ILO category 110 or more; 37 (26%) had radiologic evidence of pleural lesions; 17 (12%) had both parenchymal and pleural lesions; and a total of 58 (41%) had one or more radiologic findings of asbestos-related lung disease.
In discriminant analysis, duration of maritime employment was predictive of pleural lesions, but the association was not statistically significant (one-tail, p = .16). The prevalence of pleural lesions was also higher among sailors than among officers, and this association was statistically significant (one-tail, p = .05). In this group, none of the occupational variables studied (age, duration of maritime employment, and rank) was related to lung fibrosis.
After controlling by multiple regression for mutual confounding effects, suggestive negative associations for the presence of pleural lesions were found with FVC (one-tail, p = .13) as well as with FEF25% (one-tail, p = .09) and FEF5O% (one-tail, p = .07). By contrast, no association was found between pulmonary fibrosis and any of the respiratory volumes.
The results of this study suggest that mariners may present evidence of asbestosrelated disease after many years from onset of exposure on ships.