Fibre years

The term "fiber years" was introduced in 1992 as an important component of occupational disease law (Fischer 2000).

The term "fiber years" is used to express the cumulative occupational exposure to asbestos (Suraya 2020). A fiber year corresponds to 1 x 10 to the power of 6 fibers per m³ x 1 year (Herold 2020). A year is defined as an 8-hour shift over a total of 240 working days distributed over 48 weeks (Suraya 2020).

The risk of developing lung cancer, for example, doubles with 25 fiber years (Herold 2022 / Suraya 2020).

The term fiber years was introduced to estimate tumor risk after asbestos exposure (Herold 2022). It is also relevant for the recognition of occupational disease No. 4104.

1. Fischer M, Gunther S, Müller K M, (2000) Fiber years, asbestos exposure in the lungs, asbestoses. Pneumology 54. 155 - 159
2. Herold G et al (2022) Internal medicine. Herold Publishers 398
3. Kasper D L, Fauci A S, Hauser S L, Longo D L, Jameson J L, Loscalzo J et al (2015) Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Mc Graw Hill Education
4. Suraya A, Nowak D, Sulistomo A W, Icksan A G, Syahruddin E, Berger U, Bose- O'Reilly S (2020) Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer: A Hospital-Based Case-Control Study in Indonesia. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 17 (2) 591