Assessing lifetime occupational chrysotile inhalation exposure, respiratory symptoms, and lung cancer risk among brake maintenance workers in Malaysia.

This article focuses on estimating lifetime occupational exposure to chrysotile asbestos among Malaysian brake maintenance workers and assessing associated respiratory symptoms and lung cancer risk. Using exposure modeling combined with personal airborne monitoring and structured occupational history interviews, the study found that workers had low cumulative chrysotile exposure, with the highest airborne concentrations observed in aircraft workshops. Respiratory symptoms such as cough were more prevalent among exposed workers, though associations were not significant after adjusting for age, and the predicted lung cancer risk was very low (<1%) due to limited exposure duration and levels. The study highlights challenges in exposure assessment due to limited historical data and suggests that task-based exposure reconstruction can improve epidemiological evaluations of chrysotile-related health risks in this occupational group.