Coal workers' pneumoconiosis

Disease/Syndrome

Category

Pneumoconiosis (Pulmonary Fibrosis)

Acute/Chronic

Chronic

Synonyms

CWP; Simple CWP; Black lung; Anthracosis; Miners' asthma

Biomedical References

Search PubMed

Comments

Simple coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) is defined by the presence of small lung opacities that develop after at least ten years of exposure to coal dust. The disease is rarely seen in miners who have spent less than 20 years underground. Workers are often asymptomatic with normal pulmonary function studies. Chest x-ray findings resemble those of simple silicosis. Studies of miners with simple CWP have not shown increased mortality rates. [LaDou, p. 381] [Harber, p. 365] [Rosenstock, p. 1082] Approximately 3% of the currently employed underground coal miners in the US have evidence of CWP by chest x-ray compared to 33% in 1970. [PMID 16169911] Underground coal miners from Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia had increased silicosis and progressive massive fibrosis in the period 2000-2008 compared to the 1980s, possibly caused by increased mining of thinner seams of coal surrounded by rock. [PMID 19773275] See "CWP, complicated." See "Coal dusts."

Latency/Incubation

". . . is seen rarely in those who have spent fewer than 20 years underground." [LaDou, p. 381]

Diagnostic

Chest x-ray

ICD-9 Code

500

ICD-10 Code

J60

Reference Link

NIOSH - Coal Worker Pneumoconiosis