Factors influencing expiratory flow rates in coal miners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fairman RP ; Hankinson, John L. ; Lapp, N. Leroy ; Morgan WKC ; Reger RB
• Description:
  The most commonly used tests of ventilatory capacity, viz. the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1) and the forced vital capacity (FYC) are derived from a volume versus time record of a forced expiratory volume manoeuvre. Numerous studies have been unable to show a relationship between radiographic category of simple coal-workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) and the FEV 1 and FYC. The explanation for this is related to the fact that coal dust responsible for pneumoconiosis is deposited in the alveoli and distal airways below 2 mm in diameter, and that marked increases in the air-flow resistance of these airways may be present without significantly affecting the FEV1, FYC, or the total airways resistance. The flow volume curve has been suggested as a means to detect disease in the small airways since it permits measurement of expiratory flow at both high and low lung volumes. To derive additional information about the effects of coal dust on the small airways, the maximal expiratory flow volume curves of 6014 working coal miners have been analysed. The influence of (1) age, (2) height, (3) weight, (4) underground exposure, and (5) cigarette smoking, on maximal expiratory flows at 75, 50, 25, and 10 % of forced vital capacity as well as peak flow was analysed. Age and cigarette smoking had a highly significant effect on flows at all lung volumes. Also prolonged underground exposure had a significant effect on the flow rates at high lung volume and was especially noticeable among the non-smokers. Although previous work has shown that miners have lower flows than do comparable age-matched controls, in the present study neither category of CWP nor major workplace had any detectable effect on flow rates in excess of what may be attributable to age, height, weight, and years spent working underground. The decrement in flow rates at higher lung volumes due to prolonged underground exposure, when considered in conjunction with the absence of an effect on flows with increasing radiographic category, suggests that a dust-induced bronchitis is responsible. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Coal Coal Mining Demography Lung Mining Occupational Health Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Smokers Tobacco Products

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Cigarette-smoking Coal-miners Coal-mining Coal-workers Demographic-characteristics Height-factors Miners Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-function-tests Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Underground-miners Underground-mining Weight-factors

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• ISBN:
  9780080205601
• Publisher:
  Pergamon Press
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  ALFORD - Appalachian Laboratory for Occupational Respiratory Disease
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047135
• Citation:
  Inhaled particles IV: proceedings of an international symposium 22-26 September 1975, organized by the British Occupational Hygiene Society, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. Walton WH, ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1977 Jan; 4(Pt 2):737-755
• Editor(s):
  Walton WH
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1977
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Part Number:
  2
• Source Full Name:
  Inhaled particles IV: proceedings of an international symposium 22-26 September 1975, organized by the British Occupational Hygiene Society, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3348a6f2fd3c7ed09efe7bd43ee7204e2682f3355eef7e757a6aae6f7f829d959aa793134a8944af84570514aca683b132abcc754b5de8d76bf96da04dfa1328
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202317/cdc_202317_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.13 MB ]