The Prevalence of Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis in US Coal Miners

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Abstract
The National lnstitute of Occupational Safety and Health of the US public Health Service recently completed the first round of a large field study to determine the prevalence of coal workers, pneumoconiosis in working US coal miners. Between October 1969 and July 1971 a total of 9,076 miners from 29 bituminous and 2 anthracite mines were examined. An overall prevalence of nearly 30% was found. However, progressive massive fibrosis occurred in only 2.5% of the sample. when the data were broken down according to the geographic region in which the mine is situated, marked regional differences in prevalence were apparent. Thus, while 45% of the Eastern Pennsylvania anthracite miners had simple pneumoconiosis and a further 14% had progressive massive fibrosis, the comparable figures for bituminous miners in Colorado were 4.6% and 0%. No obvious cause for these disparities in prevalence was apparent.