[Compensation of occupational diseases during monitoring of the ARDCO cohort].

INTRODUCTION

Questions concerning under-reporting of occupational diseases (OD) linked to asbestos exposure are regularly voiced in France. Monitoring of the French multicenter Asbestos-Related Disease Cohort (ARDCO), which ensures post-occupational medical surveillance of subjects having been exposed to asbestos, provides information on (1) the medico-legal steps taken following screening by computed tomography (CT) for benign thoracic diseases, and (2) recognition of OD as a causal factor in malignant diseases.

METHODS

OD recognition - and possible compensation - was analyzed in July 2021 among 13,289 volunteers in the cohort recruited between 2003 and 2005.

RESULTS

Fifteen percent of the subjects in the cohort were found to have at least one recognized asbestos-related OD (78.2% benign pleural disease, 10.3% asbestosis, 14.2% lung cancer, and 6.0% mesothelioma). Only 58% of pleural plaques reported by the radiologist who performed the CT resulted in their recognition as ODs. On a parallel track, 88.7% of the mesotheliomas identified based on French National health insurance data and 46.9% of lung cancers were recognized as ODs.

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms the feasibility of a system designed to facilitate recognition, leading to possible compensation, of asbestos-related occupational diseases. The system could be improved by better training of the medical actors involved.