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Thoughts on adding diffusing capacity to medical surveillance of coal miners
  1. Theodore Lytras
  1. School of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Engomi, Nicosia, Cyprus
  1. Correspondence to Dr Theodore Lytras; t.lytras{at}euc.ac.cy

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Coal miners are occupationally exposed to coal mine dust, which can cause a spectrum of diseases called coal mine dust lung disease; these include coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP, also known as ‘black lung’), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), silicosis and dust-related diffuse fibrosis.1 The incidence of these diseases, especially CWP, has been on the rise in the USA in the past two decades2 and likely remains high in other industrial countries such as China.3 This indicates the inadequacy of primary prevention via dust control regulations, necessitating an added layer of secondary prevention through health surveillance and screening of coal miners.4 This was classically performed by offering chest radiographs to coal miners, with spirometry added more recently to enhance the detection of obstructive or restrictive lung impairments.5 The goal of screening, in the context of occupational risk assessment, is to detect possible early-stage and subclinical disease so that early intervention—in the form of enhanced protection from dust or transfer to a less dusty mining job—can …

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Footnotes

  • Contributors TL has drafted this commentary and is the sole guarantor.

  • Funding The author has not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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