ADEQUACY OF HUMAN HEALTH DATA SOURCES FOR EVALUATING SPATIALLY-DISTRIBUTED MESOTHELIOMA RISK FACTORS

Recently, an interdisciplinary group of health and earth scientists was assembled to explore how existing U.S. geologic and public health data can be linked to assess if exposure to erionite and other environmentally-occurring elongate mineral particles (EMP) increases the risk for disease typically seen with asbestos exposures, such as mesothelioma. An important barrier to this effort is the limited availability of spatially-distributed, publicly-available health information that can be paired to existing geospatial, meteorological, and other data relevant to EMP exposures. This abstract describes several sources of spatially-distributed information about mesothelioma that could be used in this effort. Mesothelioma is especially of interest because it is strongly related to asbestos and erionite exposure. County-level mesothelioma data on a national basis were identified. These mortality data are collected by states and distributed by CDC with restrictions on use to protect confidentiality. No comprehensive, publicly-available national source of mesothelioma incidence (morbidity) data was identified. However, for some states, comprehensive county-level mesothelioma incidence data can be obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Cancer Institute. One state with complete information is California, which is of particular interest because of its many deposits of EMP. Summary information from these 2 data sources is as noted:

	Time Interval Available	# of Cases	% M / F	% age < 55 y	# of Counties with: 0 cases	1 – 4 cases	5 – 9 cases	> 10 cases
Mortality (National)	1999-2010	31,490	80 / 20	6	674	1,326	483	659
Mortality (California)	1999-2010	3,159	79 / 21	7	5	6	8	39
SEER Incidence (California)	2000-2010	3,523	77 / 23	10	5	8	6	39

Thus, relevant data concerning mesothelioma are available, but are limited to the county level in their spatial information content. Creation and access to more detailed spatial health effects information would provide a valuable tool for evaluating the potential risks for adverse health outcomes among those living and working around environmentally occurring EMP deposits. This work was conducted as part of a US Geologic Survey Working Group supported by the John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis, funded by USGS.