Lung Disease Caused by Exposure to Coal Mine and Silica Dust

ABSTRACT

Susceptible workers exposed to coal mine and silica dust may develop a variety of pulmonary diseases. The prime example is classical pneumoconiosis, a nodular interstitial lung disease that, in severe cases, may lead to progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) . Exposure to silica and coal mine dusts may also result in pulmonary scarring in a pattern that mimics idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, that appears indistinguishable from obstructive lung disease caused by exposure to tobacco smoke. Coal mine and silica dust may therefore result in restrictive, obstructive, or mixed patterns of impairment on pulmonary function testing. Most physicians are aware of the nodular fibrosing pulmonary tissue reactions in response to retained dust, but they may not realize that these other reactions of the pulmonary parenchyma and airways to dust exist and can result in significant respiratory dysfunction in sensitive individuals. This article discusses current data on exposure to coal mine and silica dust in the United States, the epidemiology of the diseases caused by these exposures, and new concepts of causation and pathogenesis. We also review the patterns of pulmonary disease and impairment that may result.

KEYWORDS

Pneumoconiosis - coal - silica - silicosis - coal workers pneumoconiosis

REFERENCES

• 1 Mine Safety and Health Administration .Internet Statistics. Mining Industry Accident, Injuries, Employment, and Production Statistics. Available at: http://www.msha.gov/fatals/fab.htm Accessed August 20, 2007
• 2 Antao V C, Petsonk E L, Sokolow L Z et al.. Rapidly progressive coal workers' pneumoconiosis in the United States: geographic clustering and other factors.  Occup Environ Med. 2005;  62 670-674
• 3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Advanced cases of coal workers' pneumoconiosis—two counties, Virginia, 2006.  MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004;  55 909-913
• 4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Advanced pneumoconiosis among working underground coal miners–Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia, 2006.  MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2007;  56 652-655
• 5 Freme F. United States Energy Information Administration. U.S. Coal Supply and Demand 2006. U.S. Department of Energy Website. Available at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/special/feature.html Accessed August 20, 2007
• 6 Shuster E. Tracking New Coal-Fired Power Plants. U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Website. Available at: http://www.netl.doe.gov/coal/refshelf/ncp.pdf Accessed August 20, 2007
• 7 Petsonk E L, Attfield M D. Coal workers' pneumoconiosis and other coal-related lung disease. In: Rosenstock L and Cullen MR Textbook of Clinical Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Philadelphia, PA; Saunders 1994: 276
• 8 Cohen R A, Kennedy K, Mukhin V, Conroy L. Levels of respirable coal mine dust Ukrainian coal mines [abstract].  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2002;  165 A532
• 9 National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health .Criteria for a Recommended Standard. Occupational Exposure to Respirable Coal Mine Dust. DHHS. (NIOSH) publication no 95-106. 1995
• 10 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health .Work-related lung disease surveillance report. Cincinnati, OH; US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 2003 (NIOSH) publication no 2003-111 2003: 27-49
• 11 Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica .Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. Federal Register. 68:30583–30594. Available at: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/silicacrystalline/standards.html [revised 27 September 2004] Accessed August 22, 2007
• 12 Hughes J M, Weill H, Checkoway H et al.. Radiographic evidence of silicosis risk in the diatomaceous earth industry.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1998;  158 807-814
• 13 Finkelstein M M. Silica, Silicosis, and lung cancer: a risk assessment.  Am J Ind Med. 2000;  38 8-18
• 14 Adverse effects of crystalline silica exposure. American Thoracic Society Statement.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1997;  155 761-768
• 15 Rosenman K D, Reilly M J, Rice C et al.. Silicosis among foundry workers: implication for the need to revise the OSHA standard.  Am J Epidemiol. 1996;  144 890-900
• 16 Hnizdo E, Sluis-Cremer G K. Risk of silicosis in a cohort of white South African gold miners.  Am J Ind Med. 1993;  24 447-457
• 17 Cavariani F, Di Pietro A, Miceli M et al.. Incidence of silicosis among ceramic workers in central Italy.  Scand J Work Environ Health. 1995;  21(Suppl 2) 58-62
• 18 Malmberg P, Hedenstrom H, Sunblad B M. Changes in lung function of granite crushers exposed to moderately high silica concentrations: a 12-year follow-up.  Br J Ind Med. 1993;  50 726-731
• 19 Yassin A, Yebesi F, Tingle R. Occupational exposure to crystalline silica dust in the United States, 1988–2003.  Environ Health Perspect. 2005;  113 255-260
• 20 Weeks J L, Rose C. Metal and non-metal miners' exposure to crystalline silica, 1998–2002.  Am J Ind Med. 2006;  49 523-534
• 21 Markowitz G, Rosner D. The reawakening of national concern about silicosis.  Public Health Rep. 1998;  113 302-311
• 22 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Pneumoconiosis prevalence among working coal miners examined in federal chest radiograph surveillance programs–United States, 1996–2002.  MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2003;  52 336-340
• 23 Kreiss K, Zhen B. Risk of silicosis in a Colorado mining community.  Am J Ind Med. 1996;  30 529-539
• 24 Rosenman K D, Reilly M J, Kalinowski D J, Watt F C. Silicosis in the 1990s.  Chest. 1997;  111 779-786
• 25 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Changing patterns of pneumoconiosis mortality—United States, 1968–2000.  MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004;  53 627-632
• 26 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Silicosis mortality, prevention, and control—United States, 1968–2002.  MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2005;  54 401-405
• 27 Kuempel E D, Stayner L T, Attfield M D et al.. Exposure-response analysis of mortality among coal miners in the Unites States.  Am J Ind Med. 1995;  28 167-184
• 28 Beeckman L A, Wang M L, Petsonk E L, Wagner G R. Rapid declines in FEV1 and subsequent respiratory symptoms, illnesses, and mortality in coal miners in the United States.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;  163 633-639
• 29 Green F HY, Vallyathan V. Coalworkers' pneumoconiosis due to other carbonaceous dusts. In: Churg A, Green FHY Pathology of Occupational Lung Disease. 2nd ed. Baltimore; Williams and Wilkins 1998: 186-188
• 30 Craighead J E, Abraham J L, Churg A et al.. The pathology of asbestos-associated diseases of the lungs and pleural cavities: diagnostic criteria and proposed grading system.  Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1982;  106 543-596
• 31 Diseases associated with exposure to silica and nonfibrous silicate minerals. Silicosis and Silicate Disease Committee.  Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1988;  112 673-720
• 32 Honma K, Chiyotani K. Diffuse interstitial fibrosis in nonasbestos pneumoconiosis—a pathological study.  Respiration. 1993;  60 120-126
• 33 Brichet A, Wallaert B, Gosselin B et al.. Primary diffuse interstitial fibrosis in coal miners: a new entity? Study Group on Interstitial Pathology of the Society of Thoracic Pathology of the North.  Rev Mal Respir. 1997;  14 277-285
• 34 McConnochie K, Green F HY, Vallyathan V, Wagner J C, Seal R MR, Lyons J P. Interstitial fibrosis in coal workers: experience in Wales and West Virginia.  Ann Occup Hyg. 1988;  32(suppl 1) S553-S560
• 35 Brichet A, Tonnel A B, Brambilla E et al.. Groupe d'Etude en Pathologie Interstitielle (GEPI) de la Societe de Pathologie Thoracique du Nord. Chronic interstitial pneumonia with honeycombing in coal workers.  Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis. 2002;  19 211-219
• 36 Cockcroft A, Berry G, Cotes J E, Lyons J P. Shape of small opacities and lung function in coalworkers.  Thorax. 1982;  37 765-769
• 37 Cockcroft A, Lyons J P, Andersson N, Saunders M J. Prevalence and relation to underground exposure of radiological irregular opacities in South Wales coal workers with pneumoconiosis.  Br J Ind Med. 1983;  40 169-172
• 38 Green F HY. Overview of pulmonary fibrosis.  Chest. 2002;  122(6 suppl) S334-S339
• 39 Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis . Diagnosis and treatment. International Consensus Statement.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;  161 646-664
• 40 Coultas D B, Zumwalt R E, Black W C, Sobonya R E. The epidemiology of interstitial lung diseases.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1994;  150 967-972
• 41 Taskar V S, Coultas D B. Is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis an environmental disease?.  Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2006;  3 293-298
• 42 Baumgartner K B, Samet J M, Coultas D B et al.. Occupational and environmental risk factors for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a multicenter case-control study. Collaborating Centers.  Am J Epidemiol. 2000;  152 307-315
• 43 Monso E, Tura J M, Marsal M, Morell F, Pujadas J, Morera J. Mineralogical microanalysis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.  Arch Environ Health. 1990;  45 185-188
• 44 Kitamura H, Ichinose S, Hosoya T et al.. Inhalation of inorganic particles as a risk factor for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – elemental microanalysis of pulmonary lymph nodes obtained at autopsy cases.  Pathol Res Pract. 2007;  203 575-585
• 45 Hubbard R, Venn A, Lewis S, Britton J. Lung cancer and cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis: a population-based cohort study.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;  161 5-8
• 46 Parks C G, Conrad K, Cooper G S. Occupational exposure to crystalline silica and autoimmune disease.  Environ Health Perspect. 1999;  107(Suppl 5) 793-802
• 47 Klockars M, Koskela R S, Jarvinen E, Kolari P J, Rossi A. Silica exposure and rheumatoid arthritis: a follow up study of granite workers 1940–81.  Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1987;  294(6578) 997-1000
• 48 Coggon D, Newman-Taylor A. Coal mining and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a review of the evidence.  Thorax. 1998;  53 398-407
• 49 Love R G, Miller B G. Longitudinal study of lung function in coal miners.  Thorax. 1982;  37 193-197
• 50 Attfield M D. Longitudinal decline in FEV1 in United States coal miners.  Thorax. 1985;  40 132-137
• 51 Attfield M D, Hodous T K. Pulmonary function of U.S. coal miners related to dust exposure estimates.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1992;  145 605-609
• 52 Seixas N S, Robins T G, Attfield M D, Moulton L H. Exposure-response relationships for coal mine dust and obstructive lung disease following enactment of the federal coal mine health and safety act of 1969.  Am J Ind Med. 1992;  21 715-734
• 53 Marine W M, Gurr D, Jacobsen M. Clinically important respiratory effects of dust exposure and smoking in British coal miners.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1988;  137 106-112
• 54 Hurley J F, Soutar C A. Can exposure to coal mine dust cause a severe impairment of lung function.  Br J Ind Med. 1986;  43 150-157
• 55 Henneberger P K, Attfield M D. Respiratory symptoms and spirometry in experienced coal miners: effects of both distant and recent coal mine dust exposures.  Am J Ind Med. 1997;  32 268-274
• 56 Henneberger P K, Attfield M D. Coal mine dust exposure and spirometry in experienced miners.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1996;  153 1560-1566
• 57 Soutar C A, Hurley J F. Relation between dust exposure and lung function in miners and ex-miners.  Br J Ind Med. 1986;  43 307-320
• 58 Lewis S, Bennett J, Richard K et al.. A cross sectional study of the independent effect of occupation on lung function in British coal miners.  Occup Environ Med. 1996;  53 125-128
• 59 Carta P, Aru G, Barbieri M T et al.. Dust exposure, respiratory symptoms, and longitudinal decline in lung function in young coal miners.  Occup Environ Med. 1996;  53 312-319
• 60 Oxman A D, Muir D C, Shannon H S. Occupational dust exposure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic overview of the evidence.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1993;  148 38-48
• 61 Rom W N, Kanner R E, Renzetti A D et al.. Respiratory disease in Utah coal miners.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1981;  123 372-377
• 62 Hnizdo E, Vallyathan V. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease due to occupational exposure to silica dust: a review of epidemiological and pathological evidence.  Occup Environ Med. 2003;  60 237-243
• 63 Cowie R L, Mabena S K. Silicosis, chronic airflow limitation, and chronic bronchitis in South African gold miners.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1991;  143 80-84
• 64 Kreiss K, Greenberg L M, Kogut S JH et al.. Hard-rock mining exposure affects smokers and non-smokers differently.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1989;  139 1487-1493
• 65 Naeye R L, Dellinger W S. Coal workers' pneumoconiosis: correlation of roentgenographic and postmortem findings.  JAMA. 1972;  220 223-227
• 66 Douglas A N, Lamb D, Ruckley V A. Bronchial gland dimensions in coal miners: influence of smoking and dust exposure.  Thorax. 1982;  37 760-764
• 67 Churg A, Wright J L, Wiggs B et al.. Small airways disease and mineral dust exposure: prevalence, structure, and function.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1985;  131 139-143
• 68 Ryder R, Lyons J P, Campbell H et al.. Emphysema in coal workers' pneumoconiosis.  BMJ. 1970;  3 481-487
• 69 Green F HY, Brower P L, Vallyathan V, Attfield M. Coal mine dust exposure and type of pulmonary emphysema in coal workers. In: Chiyotani K, Hosoda Y, Aizawa Y Advances in the Prevention of Occupational Respiratory Diseases. Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Elsevier Science BV 1998: 948-953
• 70 Cockcroft A, Seal R M, Wagner J C, Lyons J P, Ryder R, Andersson N. Post-mortem study of emphysema in coalworkers and non-coalworkers.  Lancet. 1982;  2 600-603
• 71 Ruckley V A, Fernie J M, Campbell S J et al.. Causes of Disability in Coalminers: A Clinico-pathological Study of Emphysema, Airways Obstruction and Massive Fibrosis. Report no. TM/89/05. Edinburgh; Institute of Occupational Medicine 1989
• 72 Ruckley V A, Chapman J S, Collings P et al.. Comparison of radiographic appearances with associated pathology and lung dust content in a group of coalworkers.  Br J Ind Med. 1984;  41 459-467
• 73 Huang X, Laurent P A, Zalma R et al.. Inactivation of alpha 1-antitrypsin by aqueous coal solutions: possible relation to the emphysema of coal workers.  Chem Res Toxicol. 1993;  6 452-458
• 74 Senn O, Russi E W, Imboden M et al.. Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency and lung disease: risk modification by occupational and environmental inhalants.  Eur Respir J. 2005;  26 909-917
• 75 Piitulainen E, Tornling G, Eriksson S. Effect of age and occupational exposure to airway irritants on lung function in non-smoking individuals of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.  Thorax. 1997;  52 244-248
• 76 Mayer A S, Stoller J K, Bucher Bartelson B, James Ruttenber A, Sandhaus R A, Newman L S. Occupational exposure risks in individuals with PI*Z alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2000;  162 553-558
• 77 Hessel P A, Gamble J F, Nicolich M. Relationship between silicosis and smoking.  Scand J Work Environ Health. 2003;  29 329-336
• 78 Hnizdo E, Baskind E, Sluis-Cremer G K. Combined effect of silica dust exposure and tobacco smoking on the prevalence of respiratory impairments among gold miners.  Scand J Work Environ Health. 1990;  16 411-422
• 79 Cowie R L. The influence of silicosis on deteriorating lung function in gold miners.  Chest. 1998;  113 340-343
• 80 Manfreda J, Sidwall G, Maini K et al.. Respiratory abnormalities in employees of the hard rock mining industry.  Am Rev Respir Dis. 1982;  126 629-634
• 81 Graham W GB, Weaver S, Ashikaga T et al.. Longitudinal pulmonary function losses in Vermont granite workers: a reevaluation.  Chest. 1994;  106 125-130
• 82 Hnizdo E, Murray J, Davison A. Correlation between autopsy findings for chronic obstructive airways disease and in-life disability in South African gold miners.  Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2000;  73 235-244
• 83 Vacek P M, Hemenway D R, Absher M P et al.. The translocation of inhaled silicon dioxide: an empirically derived compartmental model.  Fundam Appl Toxicol. 1991;  17 614-626
• 84 Bates D V, Pham Q T, Chau N, Pivoteau C, Dechoux J, Sadoul P. A longitudinal study of pulmonary function in coal miners in Lorraine, France.  Am J Ind Med. 1985;  8 21-32
• 85 Dimich-Ward H, Bates D V. Reanalysis of a longitudinal study of pulmonary function in coal miners in Lorraine, France.  Am J Ind Med. 1994;  25 613-623
• 86 Leigh J. 15 year longitudinal studies of FEV₁ loss and mucus hypersecretion development in coal workers in New South Wales, Australia.  In: Proceedings of the VIIth International Pneumoconiosis Conference, Part I Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cincinnati, OH; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 90–108 1990: 112-121