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Query: UMLS:C0037116 (silicosis)
 1,822 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The stringent industrial hygiene regulations that have been introduced in North America, Europe, and Australasia have led to a decline in the incidence and prevalence of silicosis, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, and asbestosis. Although new cases of asbestosis are not occurring, an appreciable number of mesotheliomata are still being diagnosed, and there has yet been little, if any, decline in the latter tumor. These new cases are nearly entirely due to exposure to amphiboles in the 1940s and 1950s. It is expected that by about the year 2000 the incidence of mesothelioma will begin to decrease in the United States and Canada. Meanwhile there is an undue preoccupation with more and more sensitive methods of detecting asbestosis, silicosis, and coal workers' pneumoconiosis, eg, magnetic resonance imaging, bronchoalveolar lavage, and so forth. Much effort is being made in trying to detect disease in groups of workers with extremely low exposures and no symptoms. Smaller and smaller effects are being detected, with the ultimate aim appearing to be detecting nothing at all. Efforts should be made at surveying other populations exposed to agents that have recently been introduced and that could conceivably have long-term effects.
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PMID:The pneumoconioses. 936 26

The objective of this report is to describe workers' job-related diseases and the occupations associated with those diseases. The methods include aggregation and analysis of job-related disease and occupation data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Supplementary Data System (SDS) for 1985 and 1986--the last years of data available with workers' compensation categories: death, permanent total, permanent partial, and temporary total and partial. Diseases are ranked according to their contribution to the four workers' compensation (WC) categories and also ranked within occupations according to the number of cases. Occupations are ranked according to their contribution to specific diseases within one of the four categories. The following diseases comprise the greatest numbers of deaths: heart attacks, asbestosis, silicosis, and stroke. Within the permanent total category, the diseases with the greatest contributions are heart attack, silicosis, strokes, and inflammation of the joints. For the permanent partial category, they are hearing loss, inflammation of joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, and heart attacks. For the temporary total and partial category, they are: inflammation of joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, dermatitis, and toxic poisoning. Hearing loss or inflammation of joints are associated with more than 300 occupations. Circulatory diseases comprise a larger share of job-related diseases than is generally acknowledged. Occupations contributing the most heart attack deaths are truck drivers, managers, janitors, supervisors, firefighters, and laborers. Ratios of numbers of deaths to numbers of disabilities are far higher for illnesses than injuries. Occupations that are consistent in their high ranking on most lists involving a variety of conditions include nonconstruction laborers, janitors, and construction laborers. The large SDS, though dated, provides a tentative national look at the broad spectrum of occupational diseases as defined by WC and the occupations associated with those diseases in 1985 and 1986. Some description of the spectrum of diseases encountered today is possible especially for occupations, such as those mentioned above for which employment has expanded in the 1990s.
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PMID:Job-related diseases and occupations within a large workers' compensation data set. 948 18

Asbestosis and silicosis are fibrotic diseases initiated by the inhalation of silica-containing dusts, asbestos and quartz. There are various approaches for explaining the causes of these diseases. At present, our knowledge on the matter indicates that silicic acid dissolved from these minerals, contact between macrophages and minerals, highly reactive and oxidative species formed on the mineral surface, and lysosomal enzymes released upon engulfment of particulate mineral of appropriate size all contribute to various extents to the initiation of fibrosis. Among these mineral solubility seems to have a substantial contribution as a causative factor.
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PMID:An overview of the role of mineral solubility in silicosis and asbestosis. 963 Apr 43

Michigan has a statewide mandatory occupational disease reporting system. As part of that system, reports are received from hospital, physicians, death certificates, the worker's compensation bureau, and company medical departments. Based on this reporting, the State of Michigan has a special emphasis program for the surveillance of silicosis, a known disease outcome among foundry workers. From 1985-1996, 115 cases reported to the State Surveillance System as silicosis, pneumoconiosis not specified, or pulmonary fibrosis were reclassified as having asbestos related x-ray changes after a B-reader interpretation of each case's chest x-ray. During this same period there were an additional 697 reports confirmed as silicosis and 6,724 cases reported to the surveillance system as asbestosis. Among the 115 reports reclassified as having asbestos-related x-ray changes without evidence of silicosis-related x-ray changes, 54 had worked in foundries. Only 7 (14.8%) of these individuals had their primary work in maintenance in the foundry; 40 (85.1%) had their primary foundry work in a production job; and for 10 individuals the occupation was not known. Asbestos has been used in foundries on pipe laggings, boiler coverings, as insulation in fan housings, in gloves, aprons and curtains, as insulation in cupolas, and in ladles and insulation in sand molds. Clinicians caring for foundry workers need to be aware that asbestos-related x-ray changes are not uncommon in this population and asbestos exposure should be considered as one of the carcinogens contributing to the known increased risk of lung cancer among foundry workers.
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PMID:Asbestos-related x-ray changes in foundry workers. 1227 84

A 62 yr old woman was initially diagnosed with sarcoidosis until a thoracoscopic biopsy revealed the presence of numerous birefringent particles in fibrotic areas of the centrilobular lung zones. These particles were examined by electron microscopy and X-ray spectrometry and characterized as impure talc. Further inquiry into her occupational history revealed that she had worked from the age of 14-18 yrs in a factory making rubber hoses, where she had had an intense exposure to talc. There was no evidence of silicosis or asbestosis, and other significant causes of interstitial lung disease were excluded. This case emphasizes the importance of a thorough occupational history, which may reveal a remote and forgotten exposure to a significant cause of interstitial lung disease. Although this presentation of talcosis is unusual, this case suggests that even a relatively short, but presumably intense exposure to talc more than 40 yrs previously may be a cause of progressive lung fibrosis.
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PMID:Interstitial lung disease more than 40 years after a 5 year occupational exposure to talc. 965 88

An analysis of death certificates from 1987 to 1996 among residents of the Tuscany Region identified 1518 deaths from pneumoconiosis, the large majority from silicosis, a disease explained by occupational exposure to silica dust. A dozen of deaths are from asbestosis, occurred at younger ages and are concentrated in a restricted area where a cement-asbestos factory was active. Deaths from pneumoconiosis occurred mainly among males, and the rates of the disease are decreasing only in the latest years. About 10% of deaths from silicosis are among subjects dying before 65 years of age. Mortality rates are very high in several areas of the Region, approximating those from lung cancer and ischaemic heart disease. For the above reasons the disease is still of concern from the point of view of public health and actions are suggested to obtain a description of prevalence and incidence of the disease.
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PMID:[The mortality due to pulmonary silicosis in the Tuscany region in the last decade demonstrates that the health effects of work exposure to silica are still marked]. 1005 60

The authors examined the temporal trends of age-specific pneumoconiosis mortality from coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP), asbestosis, and silicosis in the United States in 1985-1996. Mortality data were derived from the National Center for Health Statistics multiple causes of death files for the period. Age-specific mortality rates were computed for three age groups (15-44, 45-64, and > or = 65 years) among decedents with mention of CWP, asbestosis, or silicosis. Linear regression analysis was performed to examine the annual changes in age-specific mortality rates, by age group, with each specific condition. The CWP mortality rates declined significantly (p = 0.0001) in the groups 45 years old and older, but not in the age group 15-44. Asbestosis mortality rates declined significantly (p = 0.005) for the age group 45-64, while increasing (p = 0.0001) for those aged 65 years and older. However, in the younger age group 15-44, the rates showed no significant trend. Silicosis mortality rates declined significantly (p = 0.0001) for all groups. The continued occurrence of deaths from CWP, asbestosis, and silicosis among young adults may be the result of high levels of exposure to occupational risks. These results suggest that pneumoconiosis surveillance may help to evaluate the temporal pneumoconiosis mortality patterns in the United States.
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PMID:Recent trends of age-specific pneumoconiosis mortality rates in the United States, 1985-1996: coal workers' pneumoconiosis, asbestosis, and silicosis. 1063 40

Elevated disease rates have been documented among construction workers for cancer, pneumonoconiosis, asbestosis, and silicosis. However, methodologies for exposure assessment in construction are not well described in the U.S. literature. Working through a cooperative agreement with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Center to Protect Workers' Rights--a research arm of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO--has developed and used a "Task-Based Exposure Assessment Model (T-BEAM)" for construction. The characteristic elements of T-BEAM are: (1) an emphasis on the identification, implementation, and evaluation of engineering and work practice controls; and (2) use of experienced, specially trained construction workers (construction safety and health specialists) in the exposure assessment process. A task-based approach was used because tasks, or specialized skills, form the single greatest thread of continuity in the dynamic environment of construction. Workers in the construction industry come from several crafts and are typically employed by a large number of contractors throughout their career. Project types (e.g., residential or industrial rehabilitation) are also highly variable and present unique health risks. Finally, because construction involves building, renovating, or dismantling physical surroundings, the work site is constantly changing. Between 1995 and 1996, T-BEAM was applied to the collection of approximately 200 personal exposure measurements associated with "hot work tasks"--welding and thermal cutting. Data were collected with the assistance of specially trained, journeyman ironworkers, pipe fitters, and boilermakers on nine construction sites located throughout the United States. Portable local exhaust ventilation was provided to participating contractors with the intent of measuring its impact on exposure. Results indicate that data collected in a standardized, systematic fashion from multiple work sites can be used to characterize exposures among sampled trades. Comparison of results to American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit values (TLVs) demonstrate a significant health hazard among sampled trades posed by welding and thermal cutting fume, manganese, nickel, and chromium VI. Direct estimates of the probability of exceeding the ACGIH TLV for respirable particulate suggests that boilermakers (100%) and ironworkers (71%) are at greatest risk. Other task variables evaluated with respect to exposure include task, whether work was performed indoors or outdoors, intermittency of work, and use of ventilation. Use of local or mechanical ventilation reduced mean exposures to fumes significantly.
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PMID:The use of a task-based exposure assessment model (T-BEAM) for assessment of metal fume exposures during welding and thermal cutting. 1066 Sep 86

Cellular and molecular mechanisms, as well as associated gene expressions, in silicosis and asbestosis are widely investigated, and compound mechanisms involved in initiating inflammation and progression to fibrosis are comprehensively studied, though not yet totally understood. Recent advances in this field, especially concerning pathophysiology of these pneumoconioses, are reviewed in this article. Silicosis and asbestosis are two major types of pneumoconiosis. Although the clinico-pathologic features presented are apparently different, silicosis and asbestosis are both interstitial lung diseases caused by chronic exposure to airborne inorganic dusts, and the pathology of these two diseases is essentially a fibrosis.
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PMID:Pathology and pathophysiology of pneumoconiosis. 1074 74

Pneumoconioses are still a common cause of chronic lung disease. In industrialized countries, improvements in working conditions and dust control measures have led to a decrease in the incidence of severe forms of silicosis, coal worker pneumoconiosis, and parenchymal asbestosis. However, the diversity of settings in which silica and asbestos are used fuels a continued input of cases, and the burden of cases related to remote exposures is still considerable. Overall, the clinical picture of the classic pneumoconioses and their complications has not changed substantially. However, their limits and links have expanded toward systemic and connective tissue disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody-positive vasculitides. Immunologically mediated occupational lung diseases have emerged, such as berylliosis and hard-metal disease. Advances in imaging, mineralogic analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and immunologic techniques have been instrumental in describing new patterns of disease and are helpful in litigious or difficult cases.
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PMID:The past and present of pneumoconioses. 1074 76


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