QUANTITATIVE IMPORTANCE OF ASBESTOS AS A CAUSE OF LUNG-CANCER IN A SWEDISH INDUSTRIAL-CITY - A CASE-REFERENT STUDY

We wanted to assess the quantitative importance of asbestos as a cause of lung cancer. In a case-referent study, the exposure to asbestos, t obacco smoke and some other occupational exposures were compared betwe en 147 cases of lung cancer (100 men, 47 women), 111 hospital referent s, and 109 population referents, all below the age of 75 yrs and livin g in an industrial city. The attributable risk of lung cancer due to a sbestos exposure was 16 % in men (95 % confidence interval 1-31 %). No woman had occupational exposure to asbestos. We conclude that in the mid 1980's tobacco smoking was the major attributable risk, being 95% for men and 78% for women, but that in men asbestos was an appreciable contributing factor in the general population of a Swedish industrial city.