RESUMO
The aim of this study was to assess malignant mesothelioma morbidity due to exposure to asbestos in a population living in districts Nova Gorica and Tolmin (49,850 people) near the asbestos manufacturing village Anhovo (Slovenia) and to compare it with the entire Slovene population (1,949,750 people). Crude rates per 100,000 people were calculated from the total number of mesotheliomas, and risk assessment in the studied vs. total population was based on 23 years worth of data. Time series data on mesothelioma cases were also processed as a forecast of new cases by 2010.The crude incidence of mesothelioma per 100,000 individuals for all of Slovenia was 21.4, while for the Nova Gorica district including the village Anhovo it is 170.2 and for the Tolmin district 60.9. The probability of a mesothelioma case in the studied population was 8.5 times the probability of the same diagnosis in the whole of Slovenia. Over 23 years, 28% of all mesothelioma cases in Slovenia were diagnosed in the studied population, which makes only 2.5% of the total Slovene population.The outbreak of asbestosis and mesothelioma epidemics in the studied population is associated with manufacture of asbestos products in the local factory from 1922 to 1996.