B100
Occupational exposure to crystaliline silica and carcinogenic risk in the Czech black-coal miners with Pneumoconiosis
Hana Tomaskova1, Zdenek Jirak1, Anna Splichalova2, Pavel Urban3
1University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, 2Institute of Public Health in Ostrava, Czech Republic, 3National Institute of Public Health, Praha, Czech Republic
Background
The possibility of the increased risk of lung cancer in black-coal miners cannot be explicitly, according to the present knowledge, either confirmed or eliminated. The goal of this study was to assess carcinogenic risk between black-coal miners with pneumoconiosis and general Czech population.
Method
The sample consisted of 2,504 black-coal miners with pneumoconiosis. These workers were registered in the National Register of Occupational Diseases from 1992 to 2001. The individual and occupational data were combined with the data from the National Cancer Register and the National Population Register. The relative risk (lung, stomach, colon, kidney, urinary bladder) was calculated as SIR (Standardized Incidence Ratio) with 95% CI over the period 1992 to 2006 between miners and general Czech population.
Results
Coal workers pneumoconiosis was diagnosed in average age of 48.8 years (SD= 12.5). Average time of exposure was 21.1 years (SD=7.9). In the period 1992 2006, 278 newly registered cases of cancer and 493 deaths were found. Lung cancer risk was statistically significant (N=91, SIR=2.25, 95% CI: 1.82 - 2.75). This risk depended on the degree of the seriousness of PN (SIR=1.05 - 5.49). The miners with lung cancer had significantly longer (p<0.001) occupation exposure then miners without lung cancer. Data on smoking habits were available for 73 % of workers. Of those 65.6 % were smokers or ex-smokers. The risk of other specific cancers was not statistically significantly higher (stomach SIR=1.10; colon SIR=0.93; kidney SIR=0.97; urinary bladder SIR=1.18).
Conclusion
The risk of lung cancer in miners with pneumoconiosis was significantly higher than the risk in the general population.
Acknowledgements
The study was supported by grant of the Czech Ministry of Health No. 8556
