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Exposure‐response analysis of mortality among coal miners in the United States
Author(s) -
Kuempel Eileen D.,
Stayner Leslie T.,
Attfield Michael D.,
Buncher C. Ralph
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.4700280203
Subject(s) - pneumoconiosis , medicine , chronic bronchitis , lung cancer , bronchitis , environmental health , proportional hazards model , mortality rate , coal dust , silicosis , coal , pathology , engineering , waste management
The quantitative relationship between exposure to respirable coal mine dust and mortality from nonmalignant respiratory diseases was investigated in a study of 8,878 working male coal miners who were medically examined from 1969 to 1971 and followed to 1979. Exposure‐related mortality was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards modeling for underlying or contributing causes of death and modified lifetable methods for underlying causes. For pneumoconiosis mortality, the lifetable analyses showed increasing standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) with increasing cumulative exposure category. Significant exposure‐response relationships for mortality from pneumoconiosis (P < 0.001) and from chronic bronchitis or emphysema (P < 0.05) were observed in the proportional hazards models after controlling for age and smoking. No exposure‐related increases in lung cancer or stomach cancer were observed. Pneumo coniosis mortality was found to vary significantly by the rank of coal dust to which miners were exposed. Miners exposed at or below the current U.S. coal dust standard of 2 mg/m 3 over a working lifetime, based on these analyses, have an elevated risk of dying from pneumoconiosis or from chronic bronchitis or emphysema.