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Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on December 5, 2007
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2008 52(1):3-7; doi:10.1093/annhyg/mem057
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society

Exposure–Response of Silicosis Mortality in Swedish Iron Ore Miners

Ulf Hedlund1,*, Håkan Jonsson2, Kåre Eriksson1 and Bengt Järvholm1

1 Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, SE-901 85 Umeå, Sweden
2 Oncology, Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå Sweden

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +46 90 785 2242; fax: +46 90 785 2456; e-mail: ulf.hedlund{at}envmed.umu.se

Objectives: To assess the exposure–response relationship between exposure to quartz and fatal silicosis.

Methods: The mortality from silicosis in 7729 miners was analyzed and compared to their estimated exposure to respirable quartz. The miners had been working as a miner for at least 1 year between 1923 and 1996. Their mortality between 1952 and 2001 was studied by using information from the national cause of death register. Both underlying and contributing causes of death were considered in the analysis. The exposure to quartz was estimated from job titles and using 3239 measurements of personal exposure to respirable quartz from 1965 to 1999. The mortality rates were adjusted to attained age and years of birth using a Poisson regression.

Results: The median cumulative exposure among the 7729 miners was 0.9 mg x years m–3. There were 58 deaths from silicosis. Their median cumulative exposure was 4.8 mg x years m–3. The crude mortality rate was 53 cases per 100 000 person-years with an exposure–response relationship.

Conclusion: There seems to be an increased risk of fatal silicosis at exposure levels around 3 mg x years m–3 for respirable quartz.

Keywords: epidemiology • fibrosis • mining • occupation • quartz

Received May 21, 2007; in final form October 15, 2007


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