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Pleural Plaques: Incidence and Epidemiology, Exposed Workers and the General Population

A Review

Department of Lung Diseases, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Pleural plaques are the most common manifestation of exposure to asbestos. It is vital that they are properly defined radiologically; if this is done, the speci ficity for asbestos exposure is 80-90%. The ILO system is not very good for the diagnosis of plaques. In the general urban population, the incidence of plaques is 1-6.8% in Western countries among men aged 30 or more. Apart from occu pational exposure, pleural plaques have been reported from domestic expo sure and from environmental pollution in certain areas of the world where asbestos minerals occur locally. In some countries, exposure is mainly due to the local inhabitants using crushed asbestos-containing rocks for white-wash ing houses. In these areas, 40% or more of the population can show plaques on chest roentgenogram, and extremely high figures are seen on autopsy.

Key Words: Epidemiology • Asbestos exposure • Environmental exposure • Domestic exposure

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