CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE AIRWAY DISEASE IN PNEUMOCONIOSIS IN COMPARISON TO CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE AIRWAY DISEASE IN NON-DUST EXPOSED WORKERS

  • 1 January 1975
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 11  (4) , 415-427
Abstract
Many types of dust, including cigarette smoke, cause impairment of lung function. This lung function impairment does not affect working capacity, provided the dust is not fibrogenic. Quartz, normally present in coal mine dust in concentrations between 2-10%, is claimed to be responsible for coal workers'' pneumoconiosis (CWP), but the evidence is conflicting. CWP is characterized by an increased airway resistance. All correlations between airway resistance, arterial O2 and CO2 pressure and intrathoracic gas volumes (IGV) in patients having CWP and obstructive airway disease are similar to those in non-dust exposed patients with obstructive airway disease. Patients with CWP, at equivalent values of airway resistance have smaller mean values of IGV. The relationship between arterial O2 pressure and pulmonary arterial pressure is the same in patients with CWP and obstructive airway disease as in patients with chronic obstructive airway disease but without CWP. The effect of therapy in CWP with obstructive airway disease corresponds very well to that seen in patients without CWP. In coal miners with massive fibrotic lesions (complicated CWP) there was a 2-fold increase in the prevalence of chronic obstructive airway disease in comparision with that seen in non-dust exposed men. CWP of category mnp(1-3) and A showed no greater prevalence of chronic obstructive bronchitis compared to that in non-dust exposed men of the same age.

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