In 1990 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study showing that a typical asbestos patient was male and approximately 70 years old. The study concluded that approximately 50 percent of asbestos patients had direct occupational exposure. Other studies have estimated that 80 percent of patients were men.
Recent findings from the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) show that the average age of asbestos disease patients is almost 20 years younger than that of asbestos patients 20 years ago. After examining case reports from the past 3 years, ADAO determined that the average new patient is 51 years old. Half of new patients are women.
ADAO said it collected anecdotal evidence indicating that some patients newly diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer are under the age of 40. Even more disturbing, some had no direct occupational exposure to asbestos. ADAO asserted that the patient profile revealed in the 1990 CDC study “no longer represents the patient of today.” The organization pointed to findings made by the Columbia University Mesothelioma Center in New York City that are similar to ADAO's recent conclusions. “The average age of our peritoneal mesothelioma patients is 51.7,” said Dr. Robert Taub, Milstein professor of clinical medicine and director of the Columbia University Mesothelioma Center.