Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 420 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Environ Health Perspect. 2012 Jan;120(1):44-9. doi: 10.1289/ehp.1103529. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Community exposure to asbestos from contaminated vermiculite ore from Libby, Montana, occurred in many processing sites in the United States, including a densely populated urban residential neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
We examined exposed community residents who never worked at the plant or never lived with a plant worker for radiographic evidence of lung changes consistent with asbestos exposure.
We obtained posteroanterior chest radiographs to identify the prevalence of pleural abnormalities consistent with pneumoconiosis, as determined by consensus of two National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-certified B-reader radiologists. We estimated cumulative asbestos exposure (fibers per cubic centimeters × months) with air dispersion model data and activity-based modeled exposure estimates for vermiculite processing waste contact. We modeled associations between pleural abnormalities and asbestos exposure using multiple logistic regression to adjust for year of birth, sex, and potential occupational asbestos exposure.
Radiographs were obtained for 461 participants. The prevalence of pleural abnormalities by B-reader consensus was 10.8%. A history of direct contact with the waste and ever playing in the waste piles was associated with pleural abnormalities {odds ratio [OR] 2.78 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.26, 6.10] and 2.17 (95% CI: 0.99, 4.78), respectively, when adjusted for background exposure}. The regression coefficients for log-transformed measures (fibers per cubic centimeters × months) of background exposure and activity-based exposure were 0.322 (95% CI: 0.078, 0.567) and 0.063 (95% CI: -0.013, 0.139), respectively, when adjusted for each other, and 0.283 (95% CI: 0.104, 0.463) for cumulative exposure from all sources.
These results support the hypothesis that community exposure to asbestos-contaminated vermiculite originating from Libby, Montana, is associated with measurable effects based on radiographic evidence.
来自蒙大拿州利比的受污染的蛭石矿石使社区暴露于石棉，这种情况在美国的许多加工场所都发生过，包括明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市一个人口稠密的城市住宅区。
我们研究了从未在工厂工作或从未与工厂工人一起生活过的暴露于社区的居民，以寻找与石棉暴露一致的肺部变化的放射影像学证据。
我们获取了后前位胸部 X 光片，以确定胸膜异常的患病率，这些异常与尘肺病一致，由两位经过美国国家职业安全与健康研究所认证的 B 读片放射科医生的共识来确定。我们使用空气扩散模型数据和基于活动的模型来估计累计石棉暴露量（每立方厘米纤维数×月），以评估接触蛭石加工废料的情况。我们使用多变量逻辑回归模型来调整出生年份、性别和潜在的职业性石棉暴露，以评估胸膜异常与石棉暴露之间的关联。
为 461 名参与者获取了 X 光片。根据 B 读片放射科医生的共识，胸膜异常的患病率为 10.8%。直接接触废物史和曾经在废物堆中玩耍与胸膜异常相关（调整背景暴露后，比值比 [OR] 分别为 2.78 [95%置信区间 (CI)：1.26，6.10]和 2.17 [95% CI：0.99，4.78]）。调整其他因素后，背景暴露和基于活动的暴露的对数转换测量值（每立方厘米纤维数×月）的回归系数分别为 0.322（95% CI：0.078，0.567）和 0.063（95% CI：-0.013，0.139），而所有来源的累计暴露的回归系数为 0.283（95% CI：0.104，0.463）。
这些结果支持这样的假设，即来自蒙大拿州利比的受污染的蛭石矿石导致的社区接触石棉与基于放射影像学证据的可测量的影响有关。
