Post-occupational health surveillance of asbestos workers.

Background: Italian law requires an extensive health surveillance of workers after cessation of their employment status in the case of occupational exposure to carcinogens, including asbestos. Nonetheless, Italian law does not specify the timeframe of these clinical checks, nor who has financial and organizational responsibility for this surveillance. A literature search confirmed a lack of consensus around the objectives and methods to follow up workers with past occupational exposure to asbestos.

[Feasibility of a screening programme for lung cancer among workers previously heavily exposed to asbestos].

Background: We evaluated the feasibility and costs of a screening programme with spiral CT for the early diagnosis of lung cancer among workers previously heavily exposed to asbestos.

Methods: We invited 2000 workers, 1165 (58%) of whom accepted. Women and individuals with incomplete information were excluded; 1119 subjects (mean age, 57 years) entered the main analysis.