Pneumoconiosis increases the risk of congestive heart failure: A nationwide population-based cohort study

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between pneumoconiosis and congestive heart failure (CHF). We collected data from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The study sample comprised 8923 patients with pneumoconiosis and 35,692 nonpneumoconiosis controls enrolled from 2000 to 2011. Patients were followed up until the end of 2011 to evaluate the incidence of CHF. The risk of CHF was analyzed using Cox proportional hazard regression models, and the analysis accounted for factors such as sex, age, comorbidities, and air pollutants (μg/m(3)). The overall incidence of CHF was higher in the pneumoconiosis cohort (15.7 per 1000 person-y) than in the nonpneumoconiosis cohort (11.2 per 1000 person-y), with a crude hazard ratio (HR) of 1.40 (P < 0.001). The HR for CHF was 1.38-fold greater in the pneumoconiosis cohort than in the nonpneumoconiosis cohort (P < 0.001) after the model was adjusted for age, sex, various comorbidities, and air pollutants (μg/m(3)). The relative risk for CHF in the sex-specific pneumoconiosis cohort compared with the nonpneumoconiosis cohort was significant for men (adjusted HR = 1.40, 95% confidence interval = 1.21–1.62, P < 0.001). The incidence density rates of CHF increased with age; pneumoconiosis patients had a higher relative risk of CHF for all age group. Patients with pneumoconiosis were at higher risk for developing CHF than patients in the nonpneumoconiosis cohort, particularly in cases with coexisting coronary artery disease, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.