Özet:

Objectives: Environmental asbestos exposure and re­lated diseases are seen in our region. The study was planned to investigate the long term effects of asbestos exposure and to research the frequency of asbestos re­lated diseases in a region that asbestos has been used for many years. Materials and methods: The population aged 30 or older who permanently live in this region were scanned by a mi­crofilm scanning team. The questionnaire was performed to the people to evaluate the level of knowledge about as­bestos, the complaints and smoking habits. The physical examinations of the people were carried out, microfilms were taken and spirometric analyses were performed. Results: A total of 102 person, 56 (54.9%) women and 46 (45.1%) men with the mean age of 56.4±12.9 (30-80) years were included. 99 (97.1%) of people had used as­bestos previously except for past 15 years. People had used asbestos for 33.1±15.9 years. Significant relation­ships were found between negative asbestos effects and age>60 years (p< 0,001), >30 years of asbestos expo­sure (p= 0,028), use of oven made by asbestos >30 days (p= 0,015). Coughing (p=0,04), sputum (p=0,03) and dyspnea (p=0,05) were significantly higher in the affected group. Malignant pleural mesothelioma was found in one (0.9 %) person, calcified pleural plaque in 26 (25.5%), pleural thickness in 7 (6.9 %) and prevalences of these disorders were calculated as 204/100.000, 5306/100.000, 1428/100.000, respectively. Conclusion: Environmental asbestos exposure is a seri­ous public health problem in investigated area. Training programs and preventive measures may be beneficial for restrain asbestos use.

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