Abstract
BACKGROUND: Respirable crystalline silica is a well-known cause of silicosis but may also be associated with other types of interstitial lung disease. We examined the associations between occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica and the risk of idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, pulmonary sarcoidosis and silicosis.
METHODS: The total Danish working population was followed 1977-2015. Annual individual exposure to respirable crystalline silica was estimated using a quantitative job exposure matrix. Cases were identified in the Danish National Patient Register. We conducted adjusted analyses of exposure-response relations between cumulative silica exposure and other exposure metrics and idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, pulmonary sarcoidosis and silicosis.
RESULTS: Mean cumulative exposure was 125 µg/m 3-years among exposed workers. We observed increasing incidence rate ratios with increasing cumulative silica exposure for idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, pulmonary sarcoidosis and silicosis. For idiopathic interstitial pneumonias and pulmonary sarcoidosis, trends per 50 µg/m 3-years were 1.03 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.03) and 1.06 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.07), respectively. For silicosis, we observed the well-known exposure-response relation with a trend per 50 µg/m 3-years of 1.20 (95% CI 1.17 to 1.23).
CONCLUSION: This study suggests that silica inhalation may be related to pulmonary sarcoidosis and idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, though these findings may to some extent be explained by diagnostic misclassification. The observed exposure-response relations for silicosis at lower cumulative exposure levels than previously reported need to be corroborated in analyses that address the limitations of this study.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 279-286 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Occupational and Environmental Medicine |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 20 Jun 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 10 Jul 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024.
Funding
This work was funded by grants from the Danish Working Environment Research Fund (grant. no. 34-2019-09 and 47-2019-03). The original ISCO-68 SYN-JEM was developed in the SYNERGY project funded by the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) (grant FP 271) and was coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the DGUV, Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum (IPA), and the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) at Utrecht University. The development of the Danish Occupational Cohort (DOC*X) was coordinated by the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital-Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg and funded by the Danish Working Environment Research Fund (grant no. 43-2014-03/20140016763).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Danish government | |
| Institute of the Ruhr-University Bochum | |
| Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer | |
| IMA-DUST | |
| International Psychogeriatric Association | |
| Danish Center for Lung Cancer Research, Innovation Fund Denmark | |
| Industrial Minerals Association | |
| Universiteit Utrecht | |
| Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences | |
| Danish Working Environment Research Fund | 47-2019-03, 34-2019-09 |
| Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung | FP 271 |
| Bispebjerg Hospital | 43-2014-03/20140016763 |
Keywords
- Lung Diseases, Interstitial
- Occupational Health
- Silicosis
