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Document ID (ISN)76347
CIS number 01-447
ISSN - Serial title 1351-0711 - Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Year 1996
Convention or series no.
Author(s) Lewis S., Bennett J., Richards K., Britton J.
Title A cross sectional study of the independent effect of occupation on lung function in British coal miners
Bibliographic information Feb. 1996, Vol.53, No.2, p.125-128. Illus. 14 ref.
Abstract Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were obtained on 1286 miners in Nottinghamshire with no evidence of pneumoconiosis on X-ray film. Lung function data were also obtained from a control sample of 567 Nottinghamshire men. Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the mean independent effect of mining on FEV1 and FVC after adjustment for age, height, and smoking, in all miners and controls. There was a significant mean effect of mining on FEV1 after adjustment for age, height, and smoking of -155mL, but the size of effect was inversely related to age such that in men of 45 and under the estimated mean effect of mining was -251mL. Occupational exposure to coal dust is associated with a small mean deficit in lung function even in the absence of simple pneumoconiosis, and independently from the effects of smoking. The requirement that miners should have evidence of pneumoconiosis to qualify for compensation for impaired lung function is therefore unjustified.
Descriptors (primary) coal dust; compensation of occupational diseases; coal mining; pulmonary function; pneumoconiosis
Descriptors (secondary) United Kingdom; respiratory function tests; one-second forced expiratory volume; smoking
Document type D - Periodical articles
Country / State or ProvinceUnited Kingdom
Subject(s) Mines and quarries
Broad subject area(s) Industries and occupations
Browse category(ies) Pneumoconioses
Mining and quarrying
Workers' compensation