The study was designed to test the hypothesis that the risk of lung ca
ncer from asbestos exposure is confined to persons with radiographic e
vidence of pulmonary fibrosis. Occupational and smoking histories were
obtained from 271 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of primary lung
cancer and 678 referents (279 with other respiratory disease and 399
with cardiac disease). Histories were reviewed blind to assess the tim
ing, duration, and probability of exposure to asbestos. To allow for a
lag between asbestos exposure and the development of lung cancer, sub
jects were classified by the time they had spent in an occupation enta
iling definite or probable exposure more than 15 years before diagnosi
s. The presence and extent of fibrosis was assessed blindly from chest
radiographs by three readers and scored for small opacities with the
ILO 1980 International Classification of Radiographs of the Pneumoconi
oses. 93 (34.3%) cases had worked in an occupation with definite or pr
obable asbestos exposure compared with 176 (25.8%) referents (crude od
ds ratio for lung cancer 1.49, 95% Cl 1.09-2.04). After adjustment for
age, sex, smoking history, and area of referral, the odds ratio (95%
Cl) was 2.03 (1.00-4.73) in the subgroup of 211 with a median ILO scor
e for small parenchymal opacities of 1/0 or more, and 1.56 (1.02-2.39)
in the 738 with a score of 0/1 or less (ie, those without radiologica
l evidence of pulmonary fibrosis). These results suggest that asbestos
is associated with lung cancer even in the absence of radiologically
apparent pulmonary fibrosis.