The Need for Continued Investigation of Lung Cancer Risk in Coal Miners

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cohen RA ; Conroy LM ; Graber JM ; Stayner L
• Description:
  We thank Taeger et al for their comments on our manuscript that focus on a central question raised by our study, that is, 'Is there a lung cancer risk in US coal miners?'. We disagree with the author's suggestion that emphasising the lung cancer excess in the abstract is inappropriate. We saw a positive and significant excess of lung cancer in our overall SMR and in the exposure-response analysis with coal mine dust. These effects were strongly significant in the last decade of follow-up. Although we did see an irregular exposure-response in categorical models, this analysis is far less powerful than the analysis using continuous variables. Our findings for lung cancer are noteworthy and suggest the need for continued investigation of this issue, particularly in today's mining industry where accumulating evidence suggests increased silica exposure is contributing to the increasing prevalence of dust-related respiratory disease. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Epidemiology Lung Lung Diseases Mining Neoplasms Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety

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• Keywords:
  Cancer Rates Coal Mining Dust Exposure Lung Cancer Mining Industry
• ISSN:
  1351-0711
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  71
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20063453
• Citation:
  Occup Environ Med 2014 Jul; 71(7):523-524
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr Judith M Graber, Department of Epidemiology/Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612-7260, USA
• Email:
  jmg502@eohsi.rutgers.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Quartz (SiO2) (CAS RN 14808-60-7)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0a7891181acdd498c36c2baf52bd8fd0a65b1d76239da7a8d0068f2f3d047de83e28f0cb21d239de67648e77dcb636ded8ae83b300353e1ef525483956f175a4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/226517/cdc_226517_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 456.32 KB ]