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Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah

IMPORTANCE: Respirable silica exposure has been strongly and consistently linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among foundry workers, persons in the construction trades, stone crushers and drillers, and coal miners. However, risk of RA in hard rock mining has not been thoroughly investigated. OBJECTI...

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Autores principales: Blanc, Paul D., Trupin, Laura, Yelin, Edward H., Schmajuk, Gabriela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Medical Association 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9577677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36251293
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36738
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author Blanc, Paul D.
Trupin, Laura
Yelin, Edward H.
Schmajuk, Gabriela
author_facet Blanc, Paul D.
Trupin, Laura
Yelin, Edward H.
Schmajuk, Gabriela
author_sort Blanc, Paul D.
collection PubMed
description IMPORTANCE: Respirable silica exposure has been strongly and consistently linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among foundry workers, persons in the construction trades, stone crushers and drillers, and coal miners. However, risk of RA in hard rock mining has not been thoroughly investigated. OBJECTIVE: To analyze occupational risk of RA in hard rock miners in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional survey study estimated the association between mining industry work and reported RA in a random-digit telephone survey of men 50 years or older living in selected counties with elevated levels of pneumoconiosis mortality (N = 1988). The survey was conducted between January 12 and May 4, 2021. EXPOSURES: Underground hard rock and other mining and related mineral-processing occupations. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Report of a clinician diagnosis of RA further defined by treatment with corticosteroids or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Risk was estimated using logistic regression. RESULTS: The analytic sample of 1988 men (survey response rate, 11.1% of all contacts) had a mean (SD) age of 68.6 (10.1) years. Underground hard rock mining was reported by 118 (5.9%); underground mining of other types, predominantly coal mining (no concomitant hard rock), 62 (3.1%); and surface mining or ore processing (no underground), 262 (13.2%). Adjusting for age and smoking and accounting for nonmining silica exposure, mining employment was associated with increased odds of corticosteroid-treated RA (n = 89) (odds ratio, 4.12 [95%, 2.49-6.81]). The odds were similar for RA treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (n = 80) (odds ratio, 3.30 [95% CI, 1.93-5.66]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cross-sectional survey study, workers in hard rock and other underground mining and surface mining occupations experienced 3- to 4-fold increased odds of RA. These findings suggest that clinicians should consider patients with relevant work exposures as at higher risk for developing RA.
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spelling pubmed-95776772022-11-04 Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah Blanc, Paul D. Trupin, Laura Yelin, Edward H. Schmajuk, Gabriela JAMA Netw Open Original Investigation IMPORTANCE: Respirable silica exposure has been strongly and consistently linked to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among foundry workers, persons in the construction trades, stone crushers and drillers, and coal miners. However, risk of RA in hard rock mining has not been thoroughly investigated. OBJECTIVE: To analyze occupational risk of RA in hard rock miners in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional survey study estimated the association between mining industry work and reported RA in a random-digit telephone survey of men 50 years or older living in selected counties with elevated levels of pneumoconiosis mortality (N = 1988). The survey was conducted between January 12 and May 4, 2021. EXPOSURES: Underground hard rock and other mining and related mineral-processing occupations. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Report of a clinician diagnosis of RA further defined by treatment with corticosteroids or disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. Risk was estimated using logistic regression. RESULTS: The analytic sample of 1988 men (survey response rate, 11.1% of all contacts) had a mean (SD) age of 68.6 (10.1) years. Underground hard rock mining was reported by 118 (5.9%); underground mining of other types, predominantly coal mining (no concomitant hard rock), 62 (3.1%); and surface mining or ore processing (no underground), 262 (13.2%). Adjusting for age and smoking and accounting for nonmining silica exposure, mining employment was associated with increased odds of corticosteroid-treated RA (n = 89) (odds ratio, 4.12 [95%, 2.49-6.81]). The odds were similar for RA treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (n = 80) (odds ratio, 3.30 [95% CI, 1.93-5.66]). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cross-sectional survey study, workers in hard rock and other underground mining and surface mining occupations experienced 3- to 4-fold increased odds of RA. These findings suggest that clinicians should consider patients with relevant work exposures as at higher risk for developing RA. American Medical Association 2022-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9577677/ /pubmed/36251293 http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36738 Text en Copyright 2022 Blanc PD et al. JAMA Network Open. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License.
spellingShingle Original Investigation
Blanc, Paul D.
Trupin, Laura
Yelin, Edward H.
Schmajuk, Gabriela
Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
title Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
title_full Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
title_fullStr Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
title_short Assessment of Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Underground Hard Rock and Other Mining Industry Workers in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah
title_sort assessment of risk of rheumatoid arthritis among underground hard rock and other mining industry workers in colorado, new mexico, and utah
topic Original Investigation
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9577677/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36251293
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36738
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