Prostate Cancer and Asbestos: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Frédéric Dutheil*, Laetitia Zaragoza-Civale, Bruno Pereira, Martial Mermillod, Julien Baker, Jeannot Schmidt, Fares Moustafa, Valentin Navel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Asbestos-related diseases and cancers represent a major public health concern. OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to demonstrate that asbestos exposure increases the risk of prostate cancer. METHODS: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and ScienceDirect databases were searched using the keywords (prostate cancer OR prostatic neoplasm) AND (asbestos* OR crocidolite* OR chrysotile* OR amphibole* OR amosite*). To be included, articles needed to describe our primary outcome: Risk of prostate cancer after any asbestos exposure. RESULTS: We included 33 studies with 15,687 cases of prostate cancer among 723,566 individuals. Asbestos exposure increased the risk of prostate cancer (effect size = 1.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-1.15). When we considered mode of absorption, respiratory inhalation increased the risk of prostate cancer (1.10, 95% CI = 1.05-1.14). Both environmental and occupational exposure increased the risk of prostate cancer (1.25, 95% CI = 1.01-1.48; and 1.07, 1.04-1.10, respectively). For type of fibers, the amosite group had an increased risk of prostate cancer (1.12, 95% CI = 1.05-1.19), and there were no significant results for the chrysotile/crocidolite group. The risk was higher in Europe (1.12, 95% CI = 1.05-1.19), without significant results in other continents. DISCUSSION: Asbestos exposure seems to increase prostate cancer risk. The main mechanism of absorption was respiratory. Both environmental and occupational asbestos exposure were linked to increased risk of prostate cancer. CONCLUSION: Patients who were exposed to asbestos should possibly be encouraged to complete more frequent prostate cancer screening.

Original languageEnglish
Article number19.086
Number of pages10
JournalThe Permanente journal
Volume24
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Feb 2020

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Medicine(all)

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