Latent periods in lung cancer mortality in relation to asbestos dose and smoking

Among 4463 deaths in a cohort of 10,939 men, born between 1891 and 1920, who had worked in the Quebec chrysotile mines and mills for at least a month, 244 were due to lung cancer. The interval from first asbestos exposure to death averaged 39.6 years; not unexpectedly, this interval was related to age at death and to age at first employment. However, the interval did not appear to be associated in any important way with other measures of exposure. All of the problems of interpretation pointed out by Enterline (1978) are acknowledged, and there is no guarantee of generalization to those exposed to asbestos in other circumstances. Nevertheless, among these 244 cases, there was no evidence to support the hypothesis that the latent period of asbestos-induced lung cancer depends on the dose.