Occhealth Bulletin
22 May 2009
Severity factors for emphysema in US coal miners
Category: Examinetics
Emphysema is a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which results in the long term and progressive deformation and destruction of the architecture of the lung. Known factors associated with the development of this irreversible and degenerative disease are inhalation of toxic chemicals, dusts and cigarette smoke.
A research team from NIOSH and the Department of Pathology at the University of Calgary has published results of a study to quantitatively assess the relationship between cumulative exposure to respirable coal mine dust, cigarette smoking and other factors on the severity of the disease.
The study group included 722 autopsied individuals who had died between 1957 and 1978, 616 of whom were coal miners from Southern West Virginia and 106 non-miners from West Virginia and Vermont. The researchers obtained medical and historical data on place of birth, age at death, work and smoking history to assess factors on emphysema severity.The researchers determined that the coal miners had significantly elevated emphysema severity compared to their non-miner counterparts in both ‘ever’ and ‘never’ smokers (p=<0.0001). Further, after accounting for age at death, smoking and place of birth, the ‘cumulative exposure to respirable coal mine dust or coal dust retained in the lungs, were each predictors of emphysema severity (p=<0.0001)’. The researchers also discovered that smoking and coal dust exposure had similar additive effects on the severity of the disease.
Find further information about this and other Occupational Health matters from the Examinetics, Inc. website at www.examinetics.com.
REFERENCE
Kuempel, ED., Wheller, MW., Smith, RJ., Vallyathan, V. and Green, FHY. (2009) Contributions of dust exposure and cigarette smoking to emphysema severity in US coal miners. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. May 7 [Epub ahead of print].