While asbestos lung cancer is rare, the connection between working with asbestos and contracting lung cancer has been researched since the mid-1930s. In 1986, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared that, for Americans working with asbestos, lung cancer was the greatest risk.

Asbestos has also been linked to mesothelioma, another kind of cancer. Like asbestos mesothelioma, asbestos lung cancer takes decades to develop, but quickly spreads to distant organs. Because of these factors, asbestos lung cancer is commonly diagnosed at a late stage of development.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral used for commercial purposes such as electrical or building insulation, as well as countless other uses. Asbestos’ microscopic fibers can accumulate in the lungs and cause several critical health problems, the worst of which is lung cancer.

It may take decades for asbestos exposure to create real, physical symptoms. Exposure over time is the only way to become badly affected by asbestos. This latency period is hurried by higher exposures, as well as by co-carcinogens like cigarettes.

Approximately 90 percent of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking, so an asbestos-exposed worker who has held the job for twenty years and smokes regularly would be at a higher risk than someone who has worked in an asbestos environment for one year and does not smoke. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, asbestos-exposed cigarette smokers are 50 to 84 times more likely to develop lung cancer. Asbestos-exposed smokers can lower their risk by quitting, but this may not be enough to stop lung cancer, as the effects of asbestos exposure are irreversible.

Asbestos Exposure Criteria and Risks

In 1997, the Helsinki Criteria were established to help doctors determine if certain diseases, including lung cancer, were related to asbestos exposure. The first criteria is that the latency period is at least 10 years; that is, it takes at least 10 years for lung cancer to develop after initial asbestos exposure.

There are three other criteria, but after the first is met (10+ years of latency), the patient need only fit one of remaining items to prove their cancer is asbestos-related: diagnosis of asbestosis. Asbestosis is higher than normal asbestos fibers in the lung tissue, usually caused by higher than normal exposure to asbestos. There is some opposition to the Helsinki Criteria (some critics say it is too lenient, while others say too strict), but overall, they are accepted as a standard for determining asbestos lung cancer worldwide.

Those with industrial occupations are often the most at-risk individuals. These include auto mechanics, construction workers, insulation installers, roofers, tilers, plumbers, paper mill workers, textile workers, sheet metal workers, toll collectors, and linotype technicians, among others.

Veterans are also at a high risk for developing asbestos lung cancer. The U.S. military required its service members to be around asbestos on a daily basis, as it was used to build ships, tanks, planes, and barracks. Many soldiers breathed in asbestos every day of their service. Veterans were also likely to have taken up industrial trades such as those listed above, which were likely places of asbestos exposure.

The average survival for a limited stage patient is 16 to 22 months, while for patients with extensive stage cancer average survival is nine to 11 months. In asbestos lung cancer cases, patients are much more likely to have extensive stage cancer due to the long latency period of the asbestos related disease.