Asbestos exposure in a shipyard area, northeastern Italy

The Monfalcone area, northeastern Italy, is a small industrial district (population 60,000), with a large shipyard. In order to monitor asbestos exposure in this area, a series of 3,640 necropsies, carried out at the Monfalcone Hospital between October 1979 and September 1998, were investigated. The thoracic cavities were examined for pleural plaques; these were classified into three classes (small, moderate, large). Routine histological sections of lung tissue were examined for asbestos bodies. Isolation and counting of asbestos bodies were performed in 1,075 cases. Lifetime occupational data were collected in 1,277 cases. Pleural plaques were observed in 70.5% among men and in 23.8% among women. The prevalences of pleural plaques did not show significant variations during the study period. Asbestos bodies were found on routine lung sections in 23.7% of men and 3.0% of women. The shipyard workers, the most numerous category in the series, were characterized by high prevalence of pleural plaques (total 86.7%, large 32.4%), high prevalence of asbestos bodies on routine lung sections (35.3%), and high amounts of lung asbestos bodies after isolation. The present data indicate that asbestos exposure may reach alarming levels in the shipyard areas.