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The presence of abnormalities on high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and their relation to the duration of asbestos (1332214) exposure and pulmonary function was investigated. Over the course of 4 years, 119 male workers with past exposure to asbestos were interviewed and examined. The mean duration of total asbestos exposure was 8.6+/-6.1 years, while the mean duration of heavy exposure was 3.4+/-4.1 years. Of the 119 workers, 31 had normal HRCT, 50 had pleural plaques, seven had parenchymal abnormalities, and 31 had both types of abnormalities. The prevalence of abnormal HRCT scans increased with increasing duration of exposure. Of the subjects exposed for less than 5 years, 44% had pleural plaques and 15% had parenchymal lesions, while of the subjects exposed for more than 15 years, 100% had pleural plaques and 50% had parenchymal lesions. Cigarette smoking was significantly more common among workers with parenchymal abnormalities than among workers with normal parenchyma. The forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume (FEV) values of the subjects were about 90% of the predicted values. The mean FEV of the workers with parenchymal abnormalities, 85.6+/-17.9 liters per second (l/s), was significantly lower than the mean FEV of the workers with normal parenchyma, 91.7+/-14.9l/s. Nonsmokers with parenchymal abnormalities had a significantly lower mean FVC than nonsmokers without abnormalities. Smokers with parenchymal abnormalities had a longer exposure duration and latency time and a lower FEV to FVC ratio than smokers without abnormalities. Reduced carbon-monoxide alveolocapillary diffusion was observed among smokers, relative to nonsmokers. The authors conclude that HRCT can be used to detect early abnormalities in asbestos workers.
American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 30(5):588-595, 1996. (36 references)
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