Lung Cancer, 1(1985) 29--41 29 Elsevier

ABSTRACTS

1, PREVENTION

S.~king Behavior among US Latinos: An Emer- ging Challenge for Public Health. Marcus, A.C., Crane, L.A. Jonsson Compre- hensive Cancer Center, UCLC; Division of Cancer Control, Los Angeles, CA 90024, U.S.A. Am. J. Public Health, 75: 169-172,

1985. In this paper we review evidence on smo-

king and lung cancer among Latinos, inclu- ding findings from several unpublished stu- dies and technical reports. Recent surveys of smoking behavior in California, Texas, and New Mexico indicate a notable sex dif- ference in smoking among Latinos, with Latino males smoking at least as frequent- ly as White males, while Latino females report smoking rates considerably lower than White females. Our analysis of the 1979 and 1980 National Health Interview Surveys corroborates this finding and also indicates that this pattern holds true for

subgroups of the Latino population, inclu- ding country of origin. Taken together, these findings suggest that among Latino males rates of lung cancer and other ciga~ rette-linked diseases may increase in the

near future.

2, EPIDEMIOLOGY AND ETIOLOGY

Lung Asbestos Content in Chrysotile Workers with Mesothelioma. Churg, A., Wiggs, B., Depaoli, L. et al., Department of Pathology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T IW5,

Canada. Am. Rev. Resp. Dis. 130: 1042-1045,

1984. The role of chrysotile absestos in the

genesis of mesotheliomas in humans is dispu- ted. We analyzed the asbestos content of the lung in 6 long-term chrysotile miners

and miners who had pleural mesotheliomas. In five patients, only chrysotile ore com- ponents (chrysotile and tremolite/actino- lite/anthophyllite types of amphibole asbe- stos), were found, while the sixth patient presented both chrysotile ore components and amosite, a type of asbestos that is not derived from the mining process. The mean number of fibers/g dry lung for the 5 pa- tients with mesothelioma containing only chrysotile ore components was higher (chrysotile 64 x 10sup 6 and tremolite group 540 x 10sup 6) than in a group of long-term chrysotile miner control subjects who had no asbestos-related disease (chrysotile 23 x 10sup 6, tremolite group 58 x 10sup 6), but some patients with mesothelioma had fiber burdens near the mean of the control range. Fiber sizes and aspect ratios in the

mesothelioma group were approximately the same as those in the control subjects, and

analysis of fiber distribution failed to

show any preferential localization in the peri- phery of the lung. However, the concentration

ratio of tremolite in the lungs of the meso- thelioma cases compared to the control cases was 9.3, while the ratio of chrysotile was only 2.8. Our findings provide strong evidence that chrysotile mine dust (chrysotile and amphibole compontents) can produce mesotheliomas in hu-

mans; the greater relative amounts of tremolite group amphiboles present in the patients with mesothelioma raise the possibility that these fibers may be important in the pathogenesis of the tumors.

Occupational Asbestos Exposure, Lung-fiber Con- centration and Latency Time in ~hlignant Meso-

thel ioma. Mowe, G., Gylseth, B., Hartveit, F., Skaug, V. Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo i, Norway. Scand. J. Work Environ Health i0: 293-

298, 1984. Mineral fiber concentration in lung tissue

was analyzed by scanning electron miczoscopy in 73 males with malignant mesothelioma and in 36

referents who died of cardio- or cerebrovascular diseases. The investigation showed apparent dif- ferences in the median lung-fiber concentration between occupationsl groups with different le- vels of asbestos exposure, as judged from their occupational history. Thus the mineral fiber content in human lung tissue provides a useful indicator of cumulative asbestos exposure. There was also a statistically significant difference between the median lung-fiber concentration a- mong mesothelioma cases with unlikely or un- ]cnown occupational asbestos exposure and the reference group. The latency times in 42 of the

cases with definite or probable occupational asbestos exposure showed a log-normal distribu-

tion with a median of 37 years and a range of 19-68 years. No statistically significant corre- lation was found between the logaritm of the la- tency time and the logarithm of the lung-fiber

concentration.

Cancer Incidence among Employees of the Lawlence Livermore National Laboratory, 1969-1980. Reynolds, P., Austin, D.F. Resource for Cancer Epidemiology Section, California Department of Health Sciences, Emeryville, CA 94608, U.S.A. West J. Med. 142: 214-218, 1985.

The cancer incidence from 1969 through 1980 among active members of an occupational cohort (the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)) was compared with that of the same-age sector of the total population of the San Fran- cisco-Oakland Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. Excesses were found for malignant melano- ma of the skin and salivary gland tumors and a deficit for lung cancer in men. No excesses were noted for radiosensitive tissue groups. The overall incidence of cancer among LLNL em- ployees for this time period is approximately

that for the general population.

0169--5002/85/$03.30 ©1985 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.(Biomedical Division)