Susceptibility
Mention mesothelioma to anyone who is familiar with the term and they’ll no doubt conjure up pictures of older gentlemen suffering from severe pulmonary problems due to their past work with asbestos in places like shipyards and factories. Indeed, older men are the primary victims of asbestos cancer and account for some 92 percent of all cases diagnosed in the United States each year.
The reason men outnumber women by such a large percentage when it comes to mesothelioma is simply because many more men had jobs that put them in contact with asbestos, particularly during the decades that the mineral enjoyed widespread use in America’s factories and shipyards, power plants, oil refineries, and other industries. However, some studies have shown that women are more susceptible to developing mesothelioma, especially particular types of the disease.
Environmental Exposure and Susceptibility
Several years ago, Dr. Dorsett D. Smith, Clinical Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care, Department of Medicine, University of Washington at Everett, penned a study that took a look at the relative risk of women vs. men for malignant pleural mesothelioma due to environmental exposure to the amphibole type of asbestos. His study compared a previous study done in Karain Village, Turkey – where women were exposed to erionite (a form of fibrous zeolite) – to the rates of mesothelioma among women in the U.S., Europe, and Australian. Dr. Smith attempted to discern the reason for the difference in mesothelioma risk factors between the Turkish women and those living elsewhere.
An obvious difference, of course, might be due to the fact that the Turkish women engaged in practices that put them at a higher risk, such as whitewashing their homes with a substance that contained asbestos.
However, Smith also noticed other factors that may put women, in general, at higher risk for developing mesothelioma cancer. For example, Smith concluded that “lung volume influences fiber deposition and retention.” Hence, women – who generally have smaller lung capacity than men – are more likely to retain asbestos fibers.
“People who are taller and have longer tracheas and larger lungs have more deposition in the ciliated airways than shorter, smaller people who tend to have greater alveolar deposition at the same level of exposure,” concluded Dr. Smith, noting that more study should be conducted concerning the role of body size and women’s increased susceptibility to mesothelioma cancer.
A similar study was conducted in Wittenoom, Australia, a town that has all but disappeared due to the former presence of a crocidolite asbestos mine and the death of many miners, their family members, and other residents of the town. The study, entitled “Age and Sex Differences in Malignant Mesothelioma after Residential Exposure to Blue Asbestos” (Reid et al) noted that while men accounted for more incidences of the disease, women had a steeper exposure-response relationship, which means that even a small “dose”, i.e. a small amount of exposure to asbestos, elicited a large response, i.e. development of mesothelioma. This may also tie into the aforementioned connection between lung capacity and retention of fibers.
Other Findings of Note
Several studies of note have indicated that women may also be more susceptible to developing the peritoneal form of mesothelioma. Rather than attacking the pleura, this type of the disease forms in the peritoneal, the lining of the abdomen. There may be a number of different reasons for this increased susceptibility. One hypothesis is that because peritoneal mesothelioma and ovarian cancer are very similar, one may be mistaken for the other during diagnosis. Another reason may be women’s use of talc such as that once found in powders, etc. Talc, especially older talc preparations, once contained tremolite asbestos.
Susceptibility Due to Job-related Exposure
Certain jobs that cause mesothelioma are dominated by women and have been for a long time, including during the decades when asbestos was in use. These included jobs in laundry facilities where asbestos was present in large commercial dryers. Any damaged insulation on these dryers could have resulted in inhalation of the toxic mineral.
Cosmetics manufacturing plants were also culprits in causing mesothelioma. Asbestos may have been used in make-ups and powders, so employees, who were rarely given any kind of protective gear to prevent inhalation of dust, were prime candidates for developing asbestos-caused cancer.
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