Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Green FHY ; Laqueur WA
• Description:
  An excess of pulmonary disease has been recognized in coal workers for over 150 years. However, the characteristic lesions were not described until the middle of this century when techniques became available for the examination of whole lung sections. The term coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) was introduced by the Committee on Industrial Pulmonary Disease of the Medical Research Council of Great Britain in 1942. It was carefully chosen to avoid any etiologic implications, particularly in regard to the role of silica in the pathogenesis of the disease. The term is now universally accepted and will be used throughout this article. It is not our intention to give a detailed account of the history of CWP. Several excellent articles tracing the social, economic, political, and medical aspects of the disease have been published elsewhere. The reader is referred to the classical works of Meiklejohn in England, Klosterkotter in Germany, and Lee in the United States for this information. The purpose of this article is threefold: first, to review the current state of knowledge of the pathology of coal workers' pneumoconiosis and to relate this to the information derived from radiologic and clinical studies; second, to illustrate the various pulmonary lesions that are thought to be causally related to the inhalation of coal mine dust; and third, to discuss those aspects of CWP which have generated the most controversy and confusion within the medical profession. The material presented here is based on the two largest collections of autopsy material on underground coal workers available in the United States today. This includes the 2,400 cases submitted to the National Coal Workers Autopsy Study since its inception in 1971 and a unique collection of 700 cases from Southern West Virginia. The classification of the roentgenograms illustrated in this article is based on the UICC/Cincinnati system. A summary outline of the classification is shown in the Appendix. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Lung Lung Diseases Mining Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Black Lung Disease Coal Dust Coal Miners Coal Mining Coal Workers Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Lung Disease Lung Disorders Lung Lesions Mining Industry Respirable Dust Respiratory System Disorders Underground Miners Underground Mines Underground Mining

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• ISSN:
  0079-0184
• Publisher:
  Appleton-Century-Crofts, a publishing division of Prentice-Hall, Inc.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  333-410
• Volume:
  15
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049925
• Citation:
  Pathol Annu 1980 Jun; 15(Pt 2):333-410
• Editor(s):
  Sommers SC; Rosen PP
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1980
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Part Number:
  2
• Source Full Name:
  Pathology Annual
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b4a09640e9e4057bd5fe91f6a7b8895a770334f08bac0aaf48b73b5be4e9bc854b518f7092056ebaf5bf637044da85af2a32ebe2bebaa5b942ff7c90aa1ceb1c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/210515/cdc_210515_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 29.62 MB ]