IPF – Second Wave Of Asbestosis Claims?

Background

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a condition in which the lungs become scarred and breathing becomes increasingly difficult.

IPF is commonly identified by a diagnosis of exclusion; essentially a diagnosis of lung fibrosis of unknown cause.

The incidence of IPF is much higher than the incidence of asbestosis, and has risen steadily in the UK in recent decades. Current annual death rates of 6,000 are seen. IPF can affect people of all ages, but around 85% of diagnoses are made in patients over 70 years of age.

Claimants who have been unable to establish an asbestosis diagnosis (for example because they cannot establish an exposure history which exceeds the conventional threshold of 25 fibre ml years) are often re-categorised as suffering from IPF which, as a condition of unknown cause, is self evidentially non-compensatable.

However assumptions in this area have been called into question in a paper prepared by members of the Health and Safety Laboratory in Buxton (UK Asbestos Imports and Mortality due to Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4757753/

The authors sought to compare mortality data as a result of mesothelioma, asbestosis and IPF, with asbestos imports.

The paper made the following conclusions:

A rising IPF mortality rate has been seen, without any apparent explanation; A linear relationship between mortality for mesothelioma and IPF (and a less strong relationship for asbestosis mortality) and historic UK asbestos import statistics. A strength of association between IPF and historical imports similar to that in mesothelioma. Accepting that previous studies failed to establish any risk factors from IPF, the strength of relationship between IPF mortality and historical asbestos imports raises a question of whether a proportion of IPF mortality is due to unrecognised asbestos exposures. Discussion

Asbestos claimants are often elderly and provide poor exposure histories. Possible explanations for this include the time elapsed since the exposure occurred, indirect exposure as a bystander, and handling materials that at the time were not identified as containing asbestos.

Where an exposure assessment concludes that the generally accepted asbestosis threshold of 25 fibre ml years (lifetime exposure) is not met, a diagnosis of IPF is preferred to one of asbestosis.

The authors inevitably question whether a 25 fibre ml year threshold is realistic in view of their own findings and...