Mortality in punctiform type of coalworkers' pneumoconiosis

Abstract

Recent studies conducted on miners at necropsy and on those attending a pneumoconiosis medical panel have suggested that the punctiform type of opacities are associated with a significant gas transfer defect and with emphysema. However, a 10 yr followup of a random sample of miners and ex miners in the Rhondda Fach found that the mortality experience of those with the punctiform type was, if anything, more favorable than that for other types of pneumoconiosis. This may be related to radiographic technique, but there may also be physiological reasons. There was no evidence that those with the punctiform type had different smoking habits from those with other types of pneumoconiosis.