Asbestos-Related Radiographic Changes by ILO Classification of 10 X 10 cm Chest X-Rays in a Screening of the General Population

• Published in: Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 1995-02, Vol.37 (2), p.189-193
• Main Authors: Hilt, Bjørn, Hillerdal, Gunnar, Lund-Larsen, Per G, Lien, Jan Th, Langård, Sverre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Asbestosis - classification; Asbestosis - diagnostic imaging; Asbestosis - prevention & control; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Mass Chest X-Ray; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Norway; Rural Population; Urban Population
• ISSN: 1076-2752; 1536-5948
• DOI: 10.1097/00043764-199502000-00018

A sample of 1388 10 X 10 cm chest X-rays from a previous population screening of males aged 40+ years were reevaluated by use of the ILO classification. There were 1036 films of subjects from an industrialized town, and 352 from a rural community. The observed rates of parenchymal changes (profusion ≥ 1/0) at the revaluation were 1.3% in the urban community and 3.4% in the rural community. The corresponding figures for pleural changes were 5.0% and 0.6%, respectively. Based on additional questionnaire information on asbestos exposure, it was found that the radiographic changes were probably related to past asbestos exposure for 2.3% of the subjects from the urban community and 0.6% from the rural community. In cases of asbestosrelated illnesses the mean time since first exposure to asbestos was 35.9 years, whereas the mean duration of the exposures was 11.4 years. The results seem to indicate that the ILO reassessment of the radiographs was more sensitive in detecting pleural changes than the previous clinical screening of both small and large films.