Women and Mesothelioma: Susceptibility
Researchers who study asbestos and the reaction of individuals who are exposed to asbestos have only recently started to look into the facts regarding women and mesothelioma. Because many of the jobs that involved working with asbestos historically excluded women, this is an issue that was long ignored. But now, as more and more cases of both environmental and secondhand exposure surface, doctors and research scientists have begun to delve into the world of why men and women react differently to the hazardous and toxic mineral.
Men vs. Women - Epidemiology and Pathology
In the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century, doctors and scientists in Turkey and surrounding areas began to study the effects of asbestos on women. The studies were conducted in this region because there is an abundance of naturally occurring asbestos there and many women were being sickened due to exposure.
A 1999 study found that the relative risk of women vs. men for a malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) due to environmental amphibole asbestos exposure was significantly higher for women than men: 159.8 per 100,000 vs. 114.8 per 100,000, respectively. A similar study just a few years before in the village of Karain showed even more startling results: 440.9 per 100,000 for women vs. 298.1 per 100,000 for men.
Obviously, the frequency of exposure had something to do with the lopsided findings; however, researchers are also studying other reasons why women may be more likely to develop asbestos diseases than their male counterparts.
A 1983 study by Becklake, Toyota, Stewart, et al states that "fiber deposition by impaction, sedimentation, and interception increases in major airways based on lung size. People who are taller and have longer tracheas and larger lungs have more deposition in the ciliated airways than shorter, smaller people who tend to have greater alveolar deposition at the same level of exposure." That means women, who are usually shorter and smaller than men, tend to inhale more asbestos fibers, even if exposed for the same length of time as a man.
A British study group (Spiratas, R, Heineman, EF, Bernstein, L,; 1994) concluded, on review of 177 cases of both pleural and peritoneal mesotheliomas in women, that "98% of the test subjects had an elevated fiber burden to amphibole asbestos", an issue that is especially important when considering industrial exposure. Prior to the mid-1970s, the amphibole type of asbestos was widely used in construction materials including low-density insulation board and ceiling tiles, thermal and chemical insulation, and asbestos-cement sheets and pipes that served as casing for water and electrical services. Women may have inhaled amphibole asbestos dust brought home by family members on their hair or clothes after a long day at work.
