Rates and Costs of Respiratory Illness in Coal Mining: A Cross-Industry Comparative Analysis

Details

• Personal Author:
  Biddle, Elyce A. ; Clayton L ; Finkelstein E ; Reed, William R. ; Van Houtven G ; Volkwein, Jon C.
• Description:
  Objective: To estimate the prevalence and costs of respiratory illness for workers in coal mining, compared with other US industries. Methods: Using 5 years of insurance claims data for an annual average of 96,240 adult males, we model the probability and costs of respiratory illness as a function of workers' industry and other factors. Results: Controlling for nonindustry factors, workers in coal mining had significantly higher rates of respiratory illness claims (by 2.1% to 3.3% points) compared with other mining, agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. For coal mining workers with respiratory illness, annual medical care costs for these claims were also significantly higher (by $111 to $289). Surprisingly, drug costs were mostly lower (by $17 to $268). Conclusions: Our findings underscore the continued importance and potential cost effectiveness of measures to protect miners from harmful occupational exposures, particularly to coal dust. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Coal Coal Mining Dust Environmental Monitoring Epidemiology Lung Diseases Minerals Mining Morbidity Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety

  More +
• Keywords:
  Coal-dust Coal-miners Coal-mining Coal-processing Coal-workers Dust-exposure Dust-inhalation Dust-particles Exposure-assessment Lung-disease Lung-disorders Mineral-processing Miners Mining-industry Morbidity-rates Particulate-dust Pulmonary-system-disorders Respirable-dust Respiratory-system-disorders Underground-miners Underground-mining

  More +
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  North Carolina ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 4 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OMSHR - Office of Mine Safety and Health Research ; DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  52
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20037004
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2010 Jun; 52(6):610-617
• Contact Point Address:
  George Van Houtven, RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Road, P.O. Box 12194, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
• Email:
  gvh@rti.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ef903fc8e469bb4a869a2958dc75e94a4c63626144860739f27ab7bc4924417c6bf1b839889b862757b5eecbdd3525bcd401a7aea94daf548ec13252d308f107
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/227228/cdc_227228_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 181.12 KB ]