Validation of the UICC/Cincinnati classification of radiographs in terms of prediction of mortality of asbestos workers.

The mortality of 4559 Quebec chrysotile workers has been related to the findings from their last routine chest X-ray while still employed. In those 84 lung cancer cases who were X-rayed less than 10 years before their death, over two-thirds had 'less-than-normal' films; the abnormality was not specific, except for 'large opacities'. The three men who died from mesothelioma within about a year of X-ray were 'less-than-normal'. The findings of the completed project validated convincingly the 1967 UICC/Cincinnati classification.