PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Wiebert, Pernilla AU - Andersson, Tomas AU - Feychting, Maria AU - Sjögren, Bengt AU - Plato, Nils AU - Gustavsson, Per TI - Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica and acute myocardial infarction among men and women in Sweden AID - 10.1136/oemed-2022-108505 DP - 2023 Jan 01 TA - Occupational and Environmental Medicine PG - 21--26 VI - 80 IP - 1 4099 - http://oem.bmj.com/content/80/1/21.short 4100 - http://oem.bmj.com/content/80/1/21.full SO - Occup Environ Med2023 Jan 01; 80 AB - Objectives Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is common. The study aimed to assess the risk for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after long-term exposure to RCS and to explore differences in risk between men and women.Methods The cohort included all manual workers identified from the Swedish National Census in 1980 using data on job titles and demography altogether from five censuses from 1960 to 1990, in total 605 246 men and 480 607 women. Information on AMI was obtained from nationwide registers from 1992 to 2006. Exposure to RCS was assessed with a job-exposure matrix. HRs and 95% CIs were estimated by Cox regression, adjusted for age, socioeconomic status and urbanisation index.Results Among manual workers ever exposed to RCS, the adjusted risk of AMI was HR 1.29 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.46) in women, and HR 1.02 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.04) in men. In the highest quartile of cumulative exposure, the risk of AMI was HR 1.66 (95% CI 1.27 to 2.18) for women, and HR 1.06 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.10) for men, respectively. The risk of AMI increased with cumulative exposure to RCS both in women (p=0.001) and in men (p=0.016). An interaction analysis showed that the relative risk from exposure to RCS was statistically significantly lower in men than in women at similar exposure levels.Conclusions Occupational exposure to RCS was related to the risk of AMI. Women were more sensitive to exposure to RCS than men.Data are available on reasonable request.