Relationships between asbestos exposure and pleural plaques: dose and time effects using fractional polynomials

The aim of this study was to confirm the relationship between several parameters of exposure to asbestos and pleural plaques (PP) using data from a large cohort of retired workers occupationally exposed to asbestos in France.

A large screening programme, including high-resolution CT (HRCT) examinations at inclusion and two other HRCT campaigns, was organised from 2003 to 2016 in four regions of France for voluntary, formerly asbestos-exposed workers. Exposure to asbestos has been evaluated by industrial hygienists based on the complete work history. The time since first exposure, the time since last exposure, Cumulative Exposure Index and maximum level of exposure to asbestos, were used in logistic regression using fractional polynomials to model the relationship with PP.

The study included 5392 subjects with at least one HRCT available. There was a significant non-linear effect of time since first exposure, time since last exposure and Cumulative Exposure Index to asbestos on the presence of PP. The risk of PP increased with increasing Cumulative Exposure Index to asbestos adjusted for time since first exposure, age and smoking status. Models also show that PP odds rise with increasing time since first exposure adjusted for cumulative index exposure, age and smoking status. PP odds decrease when time since last exposure increases.

The study provides new data on the link between asbestos exposure and the presence of PP using fractional polynomials with non-linear relationships for time exposure parameters and asbestos exposure parameters.