Heart disease risk for asbestos workers

Workers exposed to asbestos as part of their job are at a significantly greater risk of heart disease and stroke than the general population, with women more likely to be affected than men, according to new research. The study was conducted by researchers at the Health and Safety Executive's research arm, HSL, and was published online in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine. HSL analysed cause of death among just under 100,000 asbestos workers taking part in regular voluntary health monitoring and answering questions on levels of exposure for the Asbestos Workers Survey. Most of the men taking part in the survey worked in asbestos removal while most of the women worked in manufacturing. The research team, led by HSL's Anne-Helen Harding, compared the number of deaths from stroke and heart attacks among these workers between 1971 and 2005 against the number that would be expected to occur in the general population. They found asbestos workers were significantly more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than the general population, even after taking account of smoking. Male asbestos workers were 63 per cent more likely to die of a stroke and 39 per cent more likely to die of heart disease. The corresponding figures for women were, respectively, 100 per cent and 89 per cent. There was some evidence that the longer the duration of exposure to asbestos, the greater was the likelihood of dying from heart disease. Hazards magazine warned last year that cardiovascular disease is a common but frequently overlooked consequence of exposure to dust at work.

Anne-Helen Harding and others. Cardiovascular disease mortality among British asbestos workers (1971-2005), Occupational and Environmental Medicine, published online 2 April 2012. doi:10.1136/oemed-2011-100313
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