Details:

Alternative Title:
Occup Environ Med
Publisher's site:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/oemed-2013-101597
Personal Author:
Graber, Judith M ; Stayner, Leslie T. ; Cohen, Robert A. ; Conroy, Lorraine M. ; Attfield, Michael D.
Graber, Judith M ; Stayner, Leslie T. ; Cohen, Robert A. ; Conroy, Lorraine M. ; Attfield, Michael D. Less -
Description:
Objectives

To evaluate respiratory related mortality among underground coal miners after 37 years of follow-up.

Methods

Underlying cause of death for 9033 underground coal miners from 31 US mines enrolled between 1969 and 1971 was evaluated with life table analysis. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to evaluate the exposure-response relationships between cumulative exposure to coal mine dust and respirable silica and mortality from pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.

Results

Excess mortality was observed for pneumoconiosis (SMR=79.70, 95% CI 72.1 to 87.67), COPD (SMR=1.11, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.24) and lung cancer (SMR=1.08; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.18). Coal mine dust exposure increased risk for mortality from pneumoconiosis and COPD. Mortality from COPD was significantly elevated among ever smokers and former smokers (HR=1.84, 95% CI 1.05 to 3.22; HRK=1.52, 95% CI 0.98 to 2.34, respectively) but not current smokers (HR=0.99, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.28). Respirable silica was positively associated with mortality from pneumoconiosis (HR=1.33, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.33) and COPD (HR=1.04, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.52) in models controlling for coal mine dust. We saw a significant relationship between coal mine dust exposure and lung cancer mortality (HR=1.70; 95% CI 1.02 to 2.83) but not with respirable silica (HR=1.05; 95% CI 0.90 to 1.23). In the most recent follow-up period (2000–2007) both exposures were positively associated with lung cancer mortality, coal mine dust significantly so.

Conclusions

Our findings support previous studies showing that exposure to coal mine dust and respirable silica leads to increased mortality from malignant and non-malignant respiratory diseases even in the absence of smoking.


Subject:
[+]
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Article
Coal
Coal Mining
Dust
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Inhalation Exposure
Lung Diseases
Lung Neoplasms
Middle Aged
Occupational Diseases
Occupational Exposure
Occupations
Pneumoconiosis
Proportional Hazards Models
Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
Silicon Dioxide
Smoking
Young Adult

Source:
Occup Environ Med. 71(1):30-39.
Pubmed ID:
24186945
Pubmed Central ID:
PMC4522914
Document Type:
Journal Article
Funding:
KLB9/Intramural CDC HHS/United States ; T42/OH008672/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States
KLB9/Intramural CDC HHS/United States ; T42/OH008672/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States Less -
Place as Subject:
United States
Collection(s):
CDC Public Access
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:090fd24ddc60b36208bddf75f9d4c6d81465218e9733b1f8a2b9005b47e335e8
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	NIHMS710096-supplement-correction.pdf	pdf
  	nihms710096.nxml	txt

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