Environmental asbestos exposure from nephrite jade mining and lung cancer

Hsiao-Yu Yang; Sugio Furuya; Naoki Toyama

doi:10.1016/j.jfma.2024.01.029

Environmental asbestos exposure from nephrite jade mining and lung cancer

J Formos Med Assoc. 2024 Feb 6:S0929-6646(24)00082-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2024.01.029. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Hsiao-Yu Yang¹, Sugio Furuya², Naoki Toyama³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, 10055, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, 10055, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, 100225, Taipei, Taiwan; Population Health Research Center, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Electronic address: hyang@ntu.edu.tw.
² Japan Occupational Safety and Health Resource Center, 136-0071, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Tokyo Occupational Safety and Health Center, 136-0071, Tokyo, Japan.

PMID: 38326151
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2024.01.029

Abstract

Background: Nephrite is an asbestos mineral composed of tremolite and actinolite. Fengtian is a community where nephrite was mined between 1970 and 1980 and asbestos was mined between 1960 and 1985. The lung cancer risk to the surrounding community is unknown.

Aims: To analyse the trend of lung cancer caused by environmental contamination from nephrite mining.

Methods: We conducted a field survey of nephrite mines and tracked new cases of lung cancer from 1980 to 2019. We calculated the age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) and applied join-point regression to examine the lung cancer trend. We assessed the age effect, period effect, and birth cohort effect on lung cancer risk.

Results: The nephrite mines were contaminated with chrysotile and tremolite/actinolite asbestos. A total of 278 new cases of lung cancer were reported during the study period. There was an apparent age effect and a slight period effect for lung cancer. After adjustment for the age and period effects, the birth cohort born between 1970 and 1980 during the period of nephrite mass production had the highest relative risk compared with other birth cohorts. The ASIR of lung cancer increased significantly from 1980 to 2010 (the annual percentage change = 6.8 %, 95 % CI: 4.0-9.7 %, P < 0.01) and then decreased 30 years after the cessation of nephrite jade mining.

Conclusions: Nephrite mining increases the risk of lung cancer in nearby communities.

Keywords: Asbestos; Lung cancer; Nephrite; Non-asbestiform; Tremolite.