Predictors of silicosis and variation in prevalence across mines among employed gold miners in South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The stated intention to eliminate silicosis from the South African goldmining industry as well as current programmes to find and compensate ex-miners with silicosis require an understanding of variation in silicosis prevalence across the industry. We aimed to identify the predictors of radiological silicosis in a large sample of working miners across gold mines in South Africa.

Methods

Routine surveillance chest radiographs were collected from 15 goldmine "clusters" in a baseline survey undertaken in preparation for a separate tuberculosis isoniazid prophylaxis trial. All images were read for silicosis by a health professional experienced in using the International Labour Organisation (ILO) classification. Profusion thresholds of > 1/0 and > 1/1 were used. Demogra

SUBMITTER: Knight D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7268682 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature