Enfermedades Pulmonares No Malignas entre Obreros del Cemento-Asbesto en Brasil: Un Estudio de Prevalencia

In spite of the social and economic impact, non-malignant pulmonary diseases related to asbestos have been undervalued. Radiological alterations and decrease of pulmonary capacity happen belatedly after years that leave the job. It is fundamental to clarify the high prevalence that carry for physical and social prejudices. We performed a prevalence survey in 145 people randomly selected from a population of 2.125 former workers that had been worked in a fiber cement factory between 1983 and 1993. The eligible criteria of sample were latency over 20 years between first exposure and data collection. Occupational and breathing questionnaire, physical exam, pulmonary function and X-ray were performed. The prevalence of non-malignant pulmonary diseases related to asbestos was 39,3% considering radiological alterations. There has been a significant association between time work and Pleural Plaques (p < 0,001), Asbestosis (p = 0,05) and nonmalignant pulmonary diseases (p < 0,001). An important relationship between exposure dose with Pleural Plaques (p = 0,0001) and Asbestosis (p = 0,0005). Latency was a highly significant to Asbestosis (p = 0,037- OR 21.1) and non-malignant pulmonary diseases (p < 0,001-OR 2.1). Concluding, there has been a high prevalence of non-malignant pulmonary diseases related to asbestos among fiber cement former workers and results highlight an increase related to latency, dose exposure and time work.