Low Levels of Exposure to Libby Amphibole Asbestos and Localized Pleural Thickening: Erratum

ERRATA

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine:

doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002678

Metrics

In the article by Christensen, et al., published in the November 2013 issue of Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the conversion from fiber/cc-month to fiber/cc-year was not calculated correctly in the original manuscript. The median exposure among community residents in Minneapolis should be 0.0044 fiber/cc-yr overall, 0.017 fiber/cc-yr for cases, and 0.0041 fiber/cc-yr for non-cases. It has been corrected here. The corrected tables appear below.

Location in paper Original Correction Page 1351, Table 1, 4th column (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 'Exposure levels' row Was 2.42 fibers/cc-yr Now 0.017 fibers/cc-year Page 1351, Table 1, 4th column (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 'Exposure levels' row Was 0.59 fibers/cc-yr Now 0.0041 fibers/cc-yr Page 1352, right column, last sentence of section labeled 'Community Residents in Minneapolis, Minnesota' Was 0.063 fibers/cc-yr Now 0.0044 fibers/cc-year Page 1352, right column, first sentence of section labeled 'Risk of LPT at Low Levels of Exposure' Was 'ranging from 0.28 to 0.63 fiber/cc-yr' Now 'ranging from 0.0044 to 0.4 fiber/cc-yr' Page 1352, Table 2, 4th column (Minneapolis, Mn); 'Exposure range' row Was 0.063 fibers/cc-yr Now 0.0044 fibers/cc-year
Table 1 - Summary of Three Studies Evaluating the Relationship Between Libby Amphibole Asbestos Exposure and Risk of Localized Pleural Thickening Libby, MT
Larson et al. (19) Marysville, OH
Rohs et al. (5) Minneapolis, MN
Alexander et al. (20) Study population Workers (n = 336)
93.2% male, median age
55.6 (interquartile range 47.4–65.8) years Workers (n = 280)
94.3% male, mean age 59.1
(age range 44–87) years Community residents (n = 461)
52.3% male, median birth year 1951–1960 (19.3% born ≤1940, 18.4% born ≥1960) Time of assessment 2000–2001 2004–2005 2001–2003 Health outcome LPT evaluated by consensus of 2 B-readers, 1980 ILO guidelines LPT evaluated by median of 3 B-readers, 2000 ILO guidelines Pleural plaques* evaluated by consensus of 2 B-readers, 2000 ILO guidelines Exposure assessment 1945–1993
Industrial hygiene measurements and work history (JEM) 1963–1980
Industrial hygiene measurements and work history (JEM) 1980–1989
Emissions-based modeling and self-reported activities Exposure levels Median: 3.6 fibers/cc-yr (IQR: 0.4–15.8) Mean (standard deviation): 2.48 fibers/cc-yr (4.19) Median: 0.017 fibers/cc-yr (cases) and 0.0041 fibers/cc-yr (non-cases) Analytic approach Logistic regression, exposure treated as categorical (quartiles) and continuous (restricted cubic splines)
Covariates: age, sex, smoking history, BMI, hire era Logistic regression, exposure treated as categorical (quartiles) Covariates: age, sex, smoking history, BMI, hire era Logistic regression, exposure treated as categorical and continuous (log-transform)
Covariates: year of birth, sex, occupational asbestos exposure

*Radiographic abnormalities were evaluated together as a group, and LPT was not modeled separately. However in the lower exposure group, all 17 cases had pleural plaques (personal communication from Bruce Alexander, 7 June 2013).


Table 2 - Three Studies Evaluating the Relationship Between Libby Amphibole Asbestos Exposure and Risk of Localized Pleural Thickening: Comparison Among Participants With Lower Exposure Libby, MT Marysville, OH* Minneapolis, MN† Group Quartile 1 Quartile 1 Quartiles 1 and 2 Exposure range 0 to <0.4 fibers/cc-yr 0.01–0.28 fibers/cc-yr 0 to <0.0044 fibers/cc-yr Prevalence 20% (n = 17 cases, 68 non-cases) 6.7% (n = 4 cases, 55 non-cases)* 7.4% (n = 17 cases, ~213 non-cases)

*Note that the exposure range given is for the first quartile of exposure in the entire study population (i.e. both with and without exposure to other (non-LAA) asbestos; the prevalence is calculated among those without exposure to other asbestos and may have a slightly different range of exposure. However, it is likely to be very similar to that shown here, based on similarity between ranges for the 3rd and 4th quartiles of exposure as shown in the published article.

†Converted from 0 to <0.0523 fibers/cc-month. It is assumed that 230 (461 / 2) individuals comprise this group. As In Table 1, note that at the lower levels of exposure, all 17 cases had pleural plaques (personal communication from Bruce Alexander, 7 June 2013).


Christensen KY, Bateson TF, Kopylev L. Low levels of exposure to Libby amphibole asbestos and localized pleural thickening. J Occup Environ Med. 2013;55:1350–1355. Copyright © 2022 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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