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Attributable risk in men in two French case-control studies on mesothelioma and asbestos

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Abstract

Pleural mesothelioma is a primary tumor of the pleura that is mainly due to asbestos exposure. To study the relationship between mesothelioma and occupational asbestos exposure in France, two case–control studies (A and B) were conducted. A substantial difference in the attributable risk in the population (ARp) was observed among men: 44.5% (95% CI: [32.6–56.4]) in study A and 83.2% (95% CI: [76.8–89.6]) in study B. As different exposure assessment expert methods were used, the main objective of this work was to re-estimate the ARp men in two case–control studies according to a common standardized exposure assessment by using a Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) and to assess the role of subjects’ selection. The initial observed ARp difference was maintained: 36.3% (95% CI: [24.3–50.3]) in study A and 69.7% (95% CI: [51.7–83.2]) in study B. Further investigations highlighted the potential selection bias introduced in both studies, especially among controls. The ARp could be underestimated in study A and overestimated in study B. After weighting subjects according to distribution of socio-economic status in the general population for controls and according to distribution of socio-economic status of cases registered by the French National Mesothelioma Surveillance Program, re-estimated ARp values were 52.4% in study A and 70.2% in study B. These results provide additional information to describe the relationship between pleural mesothelioma and occupational asbestos exposure, but also confirm the importance of subjects’ recruitment in case control studies, particularly control selection.

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Abbreviations

ARp :

Attributable risk in the population

CEI:

Cumulative exposure index

CI:

Confidence interval

f/ml:

Fibers per milliliter

f/ml-years:

Fibers per milliliter years

ISCO:

International standard classification of occupations edition 1968

ISIC:

Industrial classification of all economic activities revision 2

JEM:

Job exposure matrix

PNSM:

French national mesothelioma surveillance program

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Acknowledgments

The authors of this study thank the patients and their next of kin, the physicians and pathologists who made these two studies possible. They also thank R. Cooke for his careful reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Santé Travail Environnement, EA 3672, Institut de Santé Publique, d’Épidémiologie et de Développement, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Aude Lacourt, Céline Gramond & Patrick Brochard

  2. Équipe Associée en Santé Travail - Essat (InVS/DST - LSTE/EA3672), 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Aude Lacourt, Patrick Rolland, Céline Gramond, Stéphane Ducamp, Ellen Imbernon & Patrick Brochard

  3. Service d’Oncologie Thoracique, Département des Maladies Respiratoires, Hôpital Sainte Marguerite, 13009, Marseille, France

    Philippe Astoul & Catherine Frenay

  4. Institut Interuniversitaire de Médecine du Travail de Paris Ile de France, 75270, Paris, France

    Soizick Chamming’s

  5. Service d’Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital de la Cote de Nacre, 14033, Caen, France

    Françoise Galateau-Sallé

  6. Registre Multicentrique à Vocation Nationale des Mésothéliomes Pleuraux (MESONAT), 14033, Caen, France

    Stéphane Ducamp, Françoise Galateau-Sallé, Anabelle Gilg Soit Ilg & Nolwenn Le Stang

  7. Département Santé Travail, Institut de Veille Sanitaire, 94415, Saint Maurice, France

    Patrick Rolland, Stéphane Ducamp, Anabelle Gilg Soit Ilg, Ellen Imbernon, Marcel Goldberg & Yuriko Iwatsubo

  8. INSERM, U955, 94010, Créteil, France

    Jean Claude Pairon

  9. Faculté de Médecine, Université Paris-Est Créteil-Val de Marne, 94010, Créteil, France

    Jean Claude Pairon

  10. Centre de recherche INSERM U897 ‘Épidémiologie et Biostatistique’, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Louis-Rachid Salmi

Authors
  1. Aude Lacourt
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  2. Patrick Rolland
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  3. Céline Gramond
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  4. Philippe Astoul
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  5. Soizick Chamming’s
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  6. Stéphane Ducamp
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  7. Catherine Frenay
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  8. Françoise Galateau-Sallé
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  9. Anabelle Gilg Soit Ilg
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  10. Ellen Imbernon
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  11. Nolwenn Le Stang
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  12. Jean Claude Pairon
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  13. Marcel Goldberg
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  14. Yuriko Iwatsubo
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  15. Louis-Rachid Salmi
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  16. Patrick Brochard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aude Lacourt.

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Lacourt, A., Rolland, P., Gramond, C. et al. Attributable risk in men in two French case-control studies on mesothelioma and asbestos. Eur J Epidemiol 25, 799–806 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-010-9502-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-010-9502-0

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