Abstract
Rationale: Some previous studies reported psychological distress associated with occupational asbestos exposure. One of the hypotheses is the overestimation of the cancer risk due to asbestos exposure. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of delivering information on asbestos-related risks on the Hospital Anxiety Depression scale (HAD).
Methods: Half of 4339 subjects of the Asbestos-Related Diseases Cohort randomly received precise information on asbestos-related diseases incidence issued from the cohort analyses. All subjects were also invited to complete the HAD scale and a self-questionnaire concerning knowledge about asbestos-related risks. Factors influencing anxiety and/or depression have been analyzed using logistic regressions systematically adjusted for age, smoking status and gender.
Results: About 50% of subjects (n=2199) returned all the questionnaires, among them 1067 (48.5%) have received the information letter. Overall, 497 subjects (22.8%) reported anxiety and/or depression symptoms. The information letter had a significant impact on knowledge about asbestos health risks, but no difference was observed between the two groups for the prevalence of anxiety and depression (23.6% vs 21.9%, ns). In multiple analyses, significant associations between having anxiety and/or depression were observed with self-estimated asbestos exposure, some perceived health risks of asbestos, coping behavior but not with the information letter (OR=0.91 [0.74-1.12]).
Conclusion: Our study confirmed the existence of a significant psychological distress in relation with perception but not the knowledge of asbestos health effects. Specific psychological take care has to be developed.
- © 2013 ERS
