BACKGROUND: The incidence of @entity3620 in Britain is predicted to rise over the next 15-25 years because of past failure to protect the workforce against @entity4185 . In British Naval dockyards, alternative insulation materials and respiratory protection were introduced from the mid-1960s. Aims This study was carried out to investigate the effects of these control measures on @entity2615 deaths in dockyard workers. METHODS: Cases of @entity2615 and peritoneum between 1979 and 1999 in workers from the Devonport Naval Dockyard, south-west England, were sought from coroners' and medico-legal records. RESULTS: Three hundred and one cases were identified, 7% peritoneal. The peak incidence occurred in 1991 with 25 cases per annum (quadratic model fit R(2) = 74.2%, P < 0.001) and we predict that by 2003 the incidence will fall to fewer than five cases per annum. The mean time between first exposure and presentation was 48.5 years [95% confidence interval (CI) = 47.3-49.8], but this was significantly shorter in the more heavily exposed trades, when compared with the less heavily exposed (42 years, 95% CI = 39.0-45.0, versus 49.5 years, 95% CI = 48.2-50.9). Those with higher exposure were also at significantly greater risk of @entity6378 (P < 0.023, Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSION: The reduction in incidence of @entity2615 is greater than can be accounted for by reduction in numbers of dockyard workers over the last 50 years. Changes in insulation materials and improved industrial hygiene measures introduced into the Devonport Dockyard from the mid-1960s have resulted in an earlier decline in the incidence of @entity3620 than that predicted for the British workforce as a whole.

The rise and fall in incidence of XXXX from a British Naval Dockyard, 1979-1999.

@entity3620 :: ('MESH:C562839', 'Disease') :: ['malignant mesothelioma'] @entity4185 :: ('MESH:D058545', 'Disease') :: ['inhalation of asbestos'] @entity6378 :: ('MESH:D010532', 'Disease') :: ['peritoneal disease'] @entity2615 :: ('MESH:D008654', 'Disease') :: ['mesothelioma', 'mesothelioma of the pleura']
@entity3620 :: (MESH:C562839,Disease) :: ['malignant mesothelioma']
