Document GmVbvyn8Rx5XN7oZMwQvzZbvr

91 etc. Planteydt (1974) started a mesothelioma register in the Netherlands: since 1969 over 250 cases have been notified by pathologists. However one probably may estimate the annual incidence in the country to be over 100 cases per year. The Dutch Centra) bureau of Statistics recorded 332 deaths from primary malignancies of the pleura in 1969-397? Inclusive; if one marks these cases on the map of the Netherlands, most cases epp<`*ir to have lived (and wor ked) in areas along the estuaries: shipyards, harbours, heavy industry; as bestos textile factories arc not found in that country. In the UK 170 notifi cations Of mesothcl ior.ia (pleura and peri toncum) were made in 1067 and 20 in I960; a definite di agnr.s j .* waft made J n about 120 cases per year; thor-- is again a very clear geographic distribution, most notified and confirr.- ! c,,-.e* coming from areas with harbour, shipyards, heavy industry (Greenberg rt a': 1974). A similar trend is seen in Prance*: an increased prevalence in he Havre, N-ar.t^n and Marseilles (Bigncn, personal corr-munication). Recently McDonald et a) (1975) presented an extensive review of 176 pub lished papers (4-13) ca^ev) , fro:., which th:y draw conclusions on the epidemiolo gy of mesothelioma. Some of their findings vwe: - In Canadian end USA- surveys more than thr'*': quarters wore j r. males and except in the occupational surveys,mostly pleural. - In 7 case-control Studies from the UK, Maly, FP.C, Canada the frequency of definite or probably occupational exposure was on the average two thirds of cases. by putting together data from MalmO, Dresden, Glasgow, New York, Philadel phia, Turin, Milan end Pavia, )65 cases of mesothelioma were found in 69,30? autopsies, a rate of 0.24%; the true rate of recognised mesothe)ioma is probably somewhat higher (perhaps by 501) than found through pathologists, but if other sources are used, pathological review is needed to exclude false rases. - Estimated incidence of mesothelioma in Canada and USA ranged f*v di fix-. nnt areas from less than_l .0 per million to 2.0-6.0 per mi 1 on _j*opu7 a_v: on. Expected incidence for some other countries (a.o. UK, Sweden, the Nether lands) was calculated based upon the incidence in Canada over 1966-197?; in most countries observed and expected figures agreed fairly well, in selected cities however there was a considerable excessi most of those with excess have either large shipyards, or large asbestos processing plants. ftOQi produced by FORD