A study published in the January 6 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) found that one out of every five or six cases of mesothelioma goes unreported around the world. Mesothelioma is a rare but serious form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure, and deaths from the disease tend to be reported more accurately than diagnoses.
The study looked at the relationship between asbestos use in each country from 1920 to 1970 and the number of mesothelioma deaths reported from 1994 to 2008. Each country’s cumulative asbestos use was discovered to be an accurate predictor of mesothelioma deaths in the countries that reported their mortality data. There were 33 countries, however, that did not report their mortality data, accounting for approximately 38,900 mesothelioma cases that were not accounted for. Countries like Russia, China, and India ranked in the top 15 for cumulative asbestos use but reported no cases of mesothelioma.
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