Importance of past occupational exposures in the rising incidence of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in the UK

Asbestos usage in UK industry was widespread up to the 1980s, as demonstrated by a recent mesothelioma study where two-thirds of the randomly selected male controls born in the 1940s were found to have worked in at least one high or medium risk job for asbestos exposure. 4 These data suggest that it is likely that a large proportion of UK males presenting with pulmonary fibrosis aged 60-70 years will have previously been occupationally exposed to asbestos in the 1950s-1980s, whether or not they report it when questioned 40-50 years later.