Description of the six studies
| Estimated exposure to respirable crystalline silica in the cohort | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Study | Reference | Number of workers | End of follow up | Number of deaths | Number of silicosis deaths†| Median duration (y) | Median average (mg/m3) | Median cumulative (mg/m3-y) |
| *Follow up extended beyond original publication (see text). | ||||||||
| †Those with underlying cause of death silicosis (ICD9 502) or unspecified pneumoconiosis (ICD9 505). | ||||||||
| 1. US diatomaceous earth workers | Checkoway et al (1997) | 2342 | 1994 | 749 | 15 | 4.3 | 0.18 | 1.05 |
| 2. Finnish granite workers | Koskela et al (1994) | 1026 | 1993* | 418 | 14 | 9.2 | 0.59 | 4.63 |
| 3. US granite workers | Costello et al (1988) | 5408 | 1982 | 1762 | 43 | 18.0 | 0.05 | 0.71 |
| 4. US industrial sand workers | Steenland et al (2001) | 4027 | 1996 | 860 | 15 | 3.7 | 0.04 | 0.13 |
| 5. US gold miners | Steenland et al (1995) | 3348 | 1996* | 1925 | 39 | 5.4 | 0.05 | 0.23 |
| 6. Australian gold miners | De Klerk et al (1998) | 2213 | 1993 | 1351 | 44 | 26.8 | 0.43 | 11.37 |
| Total | 18364 | 7065 | 170 | 10.4 | 0.07 | 0.62 | ||