Environmental asbestos exposure in rural Turkey and risk of lung cancer.

The aim of this study was to determine the risk of lung cancer in a cohort of villagers with environmental asbestos exposure. The study was carried out as a field-based epidemiological study. Information from 3143 individuals in 15 asbestos exposed villages and 2175 individuals in 12 control villages was obtained. Asbestos fiber type to which villagers were exposed mainly was tremolite or tremolite, actinolite, chrysotile mixtures. The cumulative fiber count of the villagers during their lifespan ranged from 0.19 to 4.61 fiber-years/ml. The annual average incidence ratio of lung cancer was 135.21/100,000 persons/year in men and 47.28 in women in the asbestos exposed villages. For the control villages, this ratio was 60.15/100,000 person/year in men and 15.06 in women. Being a male, advanced age, smoking and asbestos exposure were established to increase the risk of lung cancer. Environmental asbestos exposure in rural area is a risk factor for lung cancer independent of smoking.