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High incidence of gastric carcinoma in a coal mining region
Author(s) -
Matolo Nathaniel M.,
Klauber Melville R.,
Gorishek William M.,
Dixon John A.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(197203)29:3<733::aid-cncr2820290329>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - coal , incidence (geometry) , medicine , coal mining , cancer , gastric carcinoma , mining engineering , stomach cancer , environmental health , cancer incidence , geography , archaeology , geology , physics , optics
Carbon and Emery Counties contain the only coal mining regions in Utah. The age‐ and sex‐adjusted incidence of gastric cancer in these 2 counties is 4 times that of the State of Utah. A detailed study of the patients with stomach cancer in the coal mining region revealed that 59% of male patients in Carbon and Emery Counties were coal miners. The gastric cancer incidence in coal miners was at least 3 times that of non‐coal miners living in counties with coal mining and at least 8 times that of males in counties with no coal mining. The increased risk for females in these 2 counties was not statistically significant, but the increased risk in males was highly significant compared to other Utah males. All homes of patients afflicted with gastric cancer in both Carbon and Emery Counties were heated with coal, and, in some of the homes, coal was used for cooking. It is concluded that coal mining in this area might be an etiologic factor and, to a lesser degree, the extensive use of soft coal.