Risks of Lung Cancer, Occupational Exposure - Literature review Example

Literature Review Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: Date of Submission: Introduction Lung cancer is a key cause of death among other health conditions among workers who have experienced some occupational exposure. Occupational exposure is identified as the process where workers are exposed to some harmful substances while working that deteriorate their health. The assignment presents the theme of occupational exposure and lung cancer, which are then critically reviewed in the section that follows. The critical review section evaluates five main journals that presents how occupational exposure has led to the increase of lung cancer risks among workers in different industries focusing on the mining industry, trucking industry and the asphalt workers. Theme 1: Occupational Exposure Occupational exposure has been presented as the high exposure of people to hazardous pollutants mainly in their different workplaces. Thus, occupational exposure is a key theme in the articles provided, which occurs as the people are working, and their workplace exposes them to a number of health risks. Exposure is perceived as the process when the chances of risking injury, harm or infection are high. Occupational exposure presents when the level of the exposure is increased in the workplace and has the capacity of harming one through some health risks. That is; the prolonged exposure to the hazardous pollutants in the workplace leads to an increase of the occupational health risk. The articles used show that occupational exposure is high for many workers, mainly those working with substances that cause cancer. The more they are exposed the more the risk of contracting a cancer increases. Thus, it is important that the occupational exposure that many workers experience is reduced through ensuring all businesses meet the anticipated occupational exposure limits to ensure that the workers are slightly protected from contracting some of the identified diseases, which include cancer. Evidence proved that occupational exposure to cancer causing substances is high and the main cause for many reported cancer patients. Theme 2: Lung Cancer Lung cancer is perceived as one of the main causes of death in the world. Lung cancer is a tumour where cells grow uncontrollably in the lung. Lung cancer starts as a carcinomas, which leads to outcomes such as chest pains, breath shortness, weight loss, and coughing of blood among other symptoms. Lung cancer is high among individuals that smoke tobacco, or are exposed to other substances such as diesel, radon, and quartz among other elemental carbons. For instance, in 2012 about 1.8million people were reported to have lung cancer where about 1.6million of the people died. However, lung cancer as presented in the articles reviewed below is occurring highly among workers who have been exposed to the diesel exhaust among others. For instance, the articles present that radon is one of the substance that miners are exposed to (Bergdahl, et al., 2010). As such, radon gas is considered to be an odourless gas, which is considered to the second key cause of lung cancer. When an individual is exposed to the gas, the risk of lung cancer increases with about 8-16%. Critical Review Lung cancer is one of the main occupational diseases that has been understudied. Lung cancer patients continue to increase due to the increase in the exposure to substances that cause cancer while in their workplaces. Bergdahl, et al., (2010, 514) evidenced that the iron ore miners that were exposed to low levels of radon while working had future conditions of lung cancer. That is; the miners or their employers assumed that since the occuputational exposure to radon is low based on a daily basis, it is not harmful to their health. However, when exposed to the same substance for a number of years, the chances of contracting lung cancer are high. Bergdahl, et al., (2010, 514) depicts that of all the 8321 miners studies, almost all had risks of lung cancer. However, the miners were also exposed to other cancerous causing substances, when exposure is prolonged such as diesel exhaust, quartz and crystaliline silica. Cystaline silica is one of the most common recognized carcinogen substance (Bergdahl, et al., 2010, 517). Garshick, et al., (2012, 1301) presents that the trucking industry workers are exposed to elemental carbon constantly in their work. Diesel exhaust has been identified as a carcinogen (Bergdahl, et al., 2010, 513); (Garshick, et al., 2012, 1301). Garshick, et al., present tha diesel exhaust is an elemental carbon that derives from the engine exhaust mainly from the loading dock operations, traffic and diesel vehicles. A study conducted in 1985, where 31,135 workers were employed in a trucking industry showed they were exposed to high levels of elemental carbon (EC) (Garshick, et al., 2012, 1304). Thus, of all the workers studied, most of them had high lng cancer mortality. Olsson, et al., (2010) depict that among the asphalt workers studies in Europe, the constant exposure to airborne bitumen fume, their potentials of contracting lung cancer increased. Thus, it presents that the occupational exposure to bitumen leads to the increase of workers having lung cancer, which was more pervasive among workers that smoked tobacco. According to the follow-up studies, many workers died of lung cancer, which they contracted while working (Olsson, et al., 2010, 1418). Peters, et al., (2016, 233), presents a qualitative analysis of occupational exposure of diesel exhaust. The study focused on the mining industry, since these are the workers that are exposed to diesel exhaust more dominantly, followed by those in the tracking industry. The diesel exhaust contains an elemental carbon substance that when people are exposed to it constantly, the risk of lung cancer increases (Peters, et al., 2016, 233). The study used surface and underground occupaation groups to identify the impact of the exposure on their health in regard to lung cancer risk. The results presented that about 14µg/m3 was exposed to surface workers while those working in underground occupations were exposed to about 18 - 44 µg/m3 based on the 12 hour shift of the employees (Peters, et al., 2016, 234). Given such numbers those working in the underground occupations have higher chances of risking lung cancer compared to those working in the surface occupations. Those working underground through loading diesel have an exposure level of 59µg/m3. Consequently, those working underground have higher deaths (Peters, et al., 2016, 234). Silverman, et al., (2012, 855) showed that the miners have continuoulsy been exposed to diesel exhaust, which is carcinogen for lung cancer. The miners exposure to this substances, have a high risk of contracting the lung cancer when exposed to this substances. However, the impact of such occupational exposures mainly regarding diesel exhaust and its impact in the rising lung cancer cases has been understudies, which lead to the employees having more risks of suffering from this diseases (Silverman, et al., 2012, 859). The sudy presents that the relationship between diesel exhaust exposure and lung cancer is high, when the employees are exposed to the substances for long periods of time. For instance, the study presented that of all the workers studied, many (198 workers) ended up dead, while about 562 had high density incidences (Silverman, et al., 2012, 863). The high exposure to the elemental carbon is the main cause of these high levels of lung cancer. The employment of people in busineses that have high risk for lung cancer are high and lead to the respiratory problems perceived among the workers despite the categorical exposures among workers that smoke and those that did not. However, as the results presented, those that smoke have higher chances of contracting lung cancer at an earlier stage when compared to others who did not smoke but were exposed to the same elemental carbon in diese exhaust (Silverman, et al., 2012, 867). Conclusion The review above presents that miners and other individuals working in occupations that expose them to high exposure of diesel exhaust have high risks of lung cancer. The occupational exposure in many industries and its impacts in the rising lung cancer cases has been understudies, which has led to the lack of the qualitative results that would protect workers from the exposures that lead to the high risks of lung cancer. The articles agree in that diesel exhaust contains an elemental carbon substance that is a carcinogen causing the high risk levels among the workers. However, the risks are dependent on several factors such as how long someone is exposed to the substance, whether they smoke or not. That is; the longer one is exposed to the substance, the more the risks of contracting lung cancer increase. On the other hand, tobacco smokers have a higher risk where tobacco is a key carcinogen, which when added to the elemental carbon among other substances increases the risk of the worker to the lung cancer. The underground and surface workers in mining industries also have different levels, where those working underground have higher chances of risking lunch cancer in shorter period of time compared to those working in surface levels. Thus, the articles present the existing problem of occupational exposure and lung cancer occurrence. Occupational exposure limit should be implemented legally to protect the workers’ health from lung cancer risks. References Bergdahl, I. A. et al., 2010. Lung cancer and exposure to quartz and diesel exhaust in Swedish iron ore miners with concurrent exposure to radon. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Volume 67, pp. 513-518. Garshick, E. et al., 2012. Lung cancer and elemental carbon exposure in trucking industry workers. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(9), pp. 1301 - 1306. Olsson, A. et al., 2010. A case-control study of lung cancer nested in a cohort of European asphalt workers. Environmental Health Perspective, 118(10), pp. 1418 - 1424. Peters, S. et al., 2016. Estimation of quantitative levels of diesel exhaust exposure and the health impact in the contemporary Australian mining industry.. Occupational Environmental Med, 74(4), pp. 233-234. Silverman, D. T. et al., 2012. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A nested case-control study of lung cancer and diesel exhaust. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 104(11), pp. 855-868. . Read More