Clinically important FEV1 declines among coal miners: an exploration of previously unrecognised determinants. (1/255)

OBJECTIVES: The relation between occupational exposure to dust and loss of ventilatory lung function is now well established. However, many exposures during work and other activities might also have important roles in determining clinically important losses of lung function. In this study, we attempted to explore additional plausible determinants of exposures and other potential risk factors for clinically important decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) during work in dusty trades. METHODS: The study was performed in 264 underground coal miners whose lung function had been followed up for an average of 11 years. With an extensive follow up questionnaire, miners were asked about their occupational and non-occupational exposures, smoking, personal and family medical history, and living conditions during childhood. RESULTS: Several variables of the mine environment (as well as previously recognised effects of mining work and region) were found to be associated with excess decline in FEV1, including work in roof bolting, exposure to explosive blasting, and to control dust spraying water that had been stored in holding tanks. Use of respiratory protection seemed to reduce the risk of decline in FEV1. Other factors that were found to be associated with declines in pulmonary function included smoking, body mass, weight gain, childhood pneumonia, and childhood exposure in the home to passive tobacco smoke and possibly smoke due to wood and coal fuels. Miners with excessive decline in FEV1 were less likely to be working in mining jobs at follow up. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the existence of additional risk factors for decline in lung function in dusty trades, and may be useful in developing additional approaches to the prevention of chronic respiratory disease.  (+info)

Living near opencast coal mining sites and children's respiratory health. (2/255)

OBJECTIVES: To answer the question whether living near opencast coal mining sites affects acute and chronic respiratory health. METHODS: All 4860 children aged 1-11 from five socioeconomically matched pairs of communities close to active opencast sites and control sites away from them were selected. Exposure was assessed by concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter < 10 microns (PM10), residential proximity to active opencast sites, and particle composition. PM10 was monitored and sampled for 6 weeks in four pairs, and for 24 weeks in one pair. A postal questionnaire collected data on health and lifestyle. Daily health information was collected by a symptom diary (concurrently with PM10 monitoring) and general practitioner (GP) records were abstracted (concurrently with PM10 monitoring and 52 weeks before the study). Outcomes were the cumulative and period prevalence (2 and 12 months) of wheeze, asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory symptoms, and the prevalence and incidence of daily symptoms and GP consultations. RESULTS: Patterns of the daily variation of PM10 were similar in opencast and control communities, but PM10 was higher in opencast areas (mean ratio 1.14, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.13 to 1.16, geometric mean 17.0 micrograms/m3 v 14.9 micrograms/m3). Opencast sites were a measurable contributor to PM10 in adjacent areas. Little evidence was found for associations between living near an opencast site and an increased prevalence of respiratory illnesses, asthma severity, or daily diary symptoms, but children in opencast communities 1-4 had significantly more respiratory consultations (1.5 v 1.1 per person-year) than children in control communities for the 6 week study periods. Associations between daily PM10 concentrations and acute health events were similar in opencast and control communities. CONCLUSIONS: Children in opencast communities were exposed to a small but significant amount of additional PM10 to which the opencast sites were a measurable contributor. Past and present respiratory health of children was similar, but GP consultations for respiratory conditions were higher in opencast communities during the core study period.  (+info)

Characterization of dust exposure for the study of chronic occupational lung disease: a comparison of different exposure assessment strategies. (3/255)

Various exposure assessment strategies were compared in the study of the relation between dust exposure and 11-year lung function change in 1,172 miners with 36,824 concurrently measured personal dust samples available from the 1969-1981 US National Study of Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis. A miner's average exposure was assessed by calculating average exposures based on dust samples taken from each individual and by using different job exposure matrices (JEMs) with different underlying exposure categorizations, based on occupational categories, job title, mine, and time, to obtain average exposure estimates. For each grouping procedure, intragroup and intergroup variances and the pooled standard error of the mean were calculated to assess relative efficiency. The results show that considerable variation in slopes of exposure-response relations was found using different exposure assessment strategies. Standard errors of the slopes of the exposure-response relations with exposure on an individual basis compared with JEMs. Exposure assessment on an individual basis was extremely sensitive to the number of exposure measurements per individual. The study demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of different exposure assessment strategies and shows the need for explicit publication of exposure assessment strategies for epidemiologic studies. Careful assessment of the influence of misclassification error in the exposure assessment on exposure-response modeling is warranted.  (+info)

Rheumatoid arthritis in workers exposed to silica in the pottery industry. (4/255)

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relation between rheumatoid arthritis and occupational exposure to silica in pottery and related industries. METHODS: Medical records of 8325 men and women born 1916-45 and employed in pottery, refractory material (aluminosilicate or silica), and sandstone industries were examined to identify cases of rheumatoid arthritis. Medical and employment histories were extracted for cases and matched referents. Indices of duration, cumulative exposure, and mean silica concentration were compiled. Conditional logistic regression was used to investigate the relation between rheumatoid arthritis and indices of exposure, having allowed for potential confounders of smoking, employment in the coal mining industry, and number of pregnancies. RESULTS: 58 Cases of rheumatoid arthritis (43 men, 15 women) were identified. Cases had significantly shorter duration of exposure than referents. There was no significant difference between cases and referents in mean silica concentration. Men who had worked in the coal mining industry were particularly at risk (odds ratio 5.36, 95% confidence interval 1.92 to 15.03). CONCLUSION: There was no evidence of increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis after occupational exposure to silica at mean exposures within the current United Kingdom exposure limits.  (+info)

Silicosis screening in surface coal miners--Pennsylvania, 1996-1997. (5/255)

Silicosis is an occupational respiratory disease caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica dust. Silicosis is irreversible, often progressive (even after exposure has ceased), and potentially fatal. Exposure to silica dust occurs in many occupations, including mining (1). During 1996-1997, surface coal miners at eight sites in Pennsylvania were screened to estimate the prevalence of silicosis, to identify risk factors for silicosis, and to refer miners with a possible diagnosis of silicosis or other conditions for medical evaluation and treatment. This report summarizes the results of the screening, which indicated that an increased prevalence of and risk for silicosis is associated with miners' age and years of drilling experience, and provides recommendations for preventing silicosis among miners.  (+info)

Recent progress in the study of occupational lung diseases in Romania. (6/255)

This paper reviews studies of occupational lung diseases in Romania in the last two decades. Work concerned with the effects of exposure to textile fibres, irritant gases and fumes in the chemical industry, welding fumes, asbestos, cadmium oxide, and the relation between dust exposure, pneumoconiosis, and chronic bronchitis is briefly presented.  (+info)

The composition of massive lesions in coal miners. (7/255)

The nature of the material forming the massive lesions in the lungs of coal workers has never been demonstrated. The concept that it was in fact massive fibrosis, implying that it consisted of collagen impregnated with coal dust, has been challenged only during the last ten years. It was agreed that the best chance of obtaining more definite information was from a combined study of the biochemical, pathological, ultrastructural, and immunological features of a number of lungs containing these lesions. Six cases which were found to contain suitable material were studied. The preliminary results obtained suggest that collagen is present in the capsule of these lesions but that at the centre it is replaced by another insoluble protein or proteins which is probably stabilized by some form of cross-linking. This protein complex accounts for one-third of the weight of the lesions, the remaining two-thirds consisting of approximately equal amounts of mineral dusts and calcium phosphate. Serum proteins were also observed but their association with the lesions has yet to be determined.  (+info)

Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis sp. nov., isolated from soil at a coal gasification site. (8/255)

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization indicated that a group of 29 closely related phenanthrene-degrading bacteria from a coal gasification site in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark, belonged to the genus Pseudomonas. The strains were isolated at two sampling occasions 2 years apart. The isolates were phenotypically different from any known species of the genus Pseudomonas and were therefore subject to further identification. Colonies were smooth and pale yellowish and did not produce pigments fluorescent in UV light when grown on King's B agar. Cells were rod-shaped, approximately 0.5-0.8 x 1.5-3.0 microm, and grew at 4 and 30 degrees C, but not 37 degrees C. The bacteria were oxidase- and catalase-positive, accumulated poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate and denitrified, but did not utilize D-xylose. The mean G+C content was 59.6 mol%. Phenotypic data and 16S rDNA sequence data information for Pseudomonas amygdali and Pseudomonas corrugata, and 16S rDNA sequence data for Pseudomonas chlororaphis and Pseudomonas syringae showed close relationships to these strains. However, DNA-DNA hybridization data showed that the isolates belong to a new species, for which the name Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is JAJ28T (DSM 13022T).  (+info)