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Review
. 2015 Oct 21:2:920-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.10.005. eCollection 2015.

Occupational exposure to asbestos and cardiovascular related diseases: A meta-analysis

Yi Rong  1 , Xin Luo  2 , Zhihong Zhang  2 , Xiuqing Cui  2 , Yuewei Liu  2 , Weihong Chen  2
Affiliations
Review

Occupational exposure to asbestos and cardiovascular related diseases: A meta-analysis

Yi Rong et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

Asbestos has become one of the leading causes of death among occupational workers in the world. The association between asbestos and cardiovascular disease is less reported. We performed a meta-analysis to quantify the association between asbestos exposure and the mortality of cardiovascular related diseases. We performed a systematic review in the PubMed database before December 2014. All cohort studies citing the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of cardiovascular related diseases in workers exposed to asbestos were collected. We then calculated the pooled standardized mortality ratios of such diseases. Sixteen studies were included. The combined results from all studies indicated the pooled SMR estimate for cardiovascular related diseases was 1.11 (95% CI, 1.01-1.22). This meta-analysis showed that asbestos exposure significantly increased the risk of cardiovascular related diseases in exposed workers.

Keywords: AHD, All heart diseases; Asbestos; CD, Circulatory diseases; CI, Confidence interval; Cardiovascular diseases; IHD, Ischemic heart disease; Meta-analysis; ODH, Other diseases of the heart; PHD, Pulmonary heart diseases; SEs, Standard errors; SMR; SMR, Standard mortality ratio.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study flow chat.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot shows association between cardiovascular related diseases and occupational exposure to asbestos. Each triangle in box represents an individual SMR estimate with the size of the box being proportional to the weight given to the study. Weights are from random-effects model. The lines represent the 95% CI for the point estimate in each study. The pooled SMR is displayed as a diamond.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Begg's funnel plot with pseudo 95% CIs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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