Estimation of an Exposure Threshold Value for Compensation of Silica-Induced COPD Based on Longitudinal Changes in Pulmonary Function

Matthias Möhner and Dennis Nowak
Additional contact information
Matthias Möhner: Division Work and Health, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, D-10317 Berlin, Germany
Dennis Nowak: Institute and Clinic for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Clinical Centre of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, D-80539 Munich, Germany

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-9

Abstract: (1) Background: To estimate the cumulative exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) that reduces lung function to an extent corresponding with airway obstruction equivalent to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). (2) Methods: The study is based on a miners’ cohort with longitudinal data on lung function and RCS exposure. Random-effects linear regression models, allowing for a possible threshold concerning the exposure concentration were used to analyze the impact of RCS on the ratio of forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced vital capacity (FEV 1 /FVC). The proposed threshold is the amount of RCS resulting in a decrease in FEV 1 /FVC from the expected value to the lower limit of normal. (3) Results: The analysis shows that a threshold model fits the data significantly better than the usual linear model. The estimated threshold value for the exposure concentration is 0.089 mg/m 3 . Using this threshold, the estimate for the corresponding reference dose for RCS is 2.33 mg/m 3 ·y. (4) Conclusions: The analysis confirmed that RCS has a negative impact on lung function. The effect is primarily due to exposure above a concentration threshold of 0.1 mg/m 3 . It is recommended that COPD should be compensated as an occupational disease if cumulative exposure was at least 2 mg/m 3 ·y above this threshold.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; respirable crystalline silica; threshold models; epidemiology; compensation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/9040/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/23/9040/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:23:p:9040-:d:456695

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().