Emphysema and Pulmonary Impairment in Coal Miners: Quantitative Relationship with Dust Exposure and Cigarette Smoking

Details

• Personal Author:
  Green FHY ; Kuempel, Eileen D. ; Vallyathan V
• Description:
  Coal miners have been shown to be at increased risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases including emphysema. The objective of this study was to determine whether lifetime cumulative exposure to respirable coal mine dust is a significant predictor of developing emphysema at a clinically-relevant level of severity by the end of life, after controlling for cigarette smoking and other covariates. Clinically-relevant emphysema severity was determined from the association between individuals' lung function during life (forced expiratory volume in one second, FEV1, as a percentage of predicted normal values) and emphysema severity at autopsy (as the proportion of lung tissue affected). In a logistic regression model, cumulative exposure to respirable coal mine dust was a statistically significant predictor of developing clinically-relevant emphysema severity, among both ever-smokers and never-smokers. The odds ratio for developing emphysema associated with FEV1 <80% at the cohort mean cumulative coal dust exposure (87 mg/m3 x yr) was 2.30 (1.46-3.64, 95% confidence limits), and at the cohort mean cigarette smoking (among smokers: 42 pack-years) was 1.95 (1.39-2.79). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biological Factors Coal Coal Mining Hazardous Substances Lung Lung Diseases Mining Neoplasms Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Smokers

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• Keywords:
  Biodynamics Biohazards Biological-effects Biological-factors Biological-transport Breathing Breathing-zone Cell-biology Cell-damage Cell-metabolism Cellular-reactions Chronic-exposure Clinical-pathology Clinical-symptoms Clinical-tests Coal-workers Health-hazards Health-standards Lung-cancer Lung-disease Lung-disorders Mathematical-models Occupational-diseases Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health Pulmonary-cancer Pulmonary-congestion Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system-disorders Smoking Statistical-analysis

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• ISSN:
  1742-6596
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  EID - Education and Information Division ; HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  151
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035180
• Citation:
  J Phys: Conf Ser, Inhaled Particles X 2009 Mar; 151(1):012024
• Contact Point Address:
  Eileen Kumpel, CDC, NIOSH, EID, Risk Evaluation Branch, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  ekuempel@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing ; Mining ; Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Inhaled Particles X, 23-25 September 2008, Sheffield, UK
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b32ecc66cad7646efb53ec80bf9907cef4bdd4830463ceba77c81d8b92fa19533607751bdb8cbf02508ac47f7ab24e63c33fe70bca4bd3f53b8d000a9abe5ade
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187115/cdc_187115_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 901.07 KB ]