Miller Brian G, Soutar Colin A
Institute of Occupational Medicine, Research Avenue North, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AP, UK.
Occup Med (Lond). 2007 Dec;57(8):569-74. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqm080. Epub 2007 Aug 4.
There is increasing pressure to tighten the regulation of workers' exposures to airborne silica, which can lead to severe and in some cases rapid development of disease. However, estimated risks from respirable silica vary greatly across industries.
To clarify differences in risks between workers in the heavy clay and coal industries with documented exposures to respirable silica, in order to assist decisions on whether further investigation of possible differences might be justified.
We applied a published equation for radiological risks from exposure to respirable silica, from a study of Scottish coalworkers (with unusually high exposures) to exposure estimates from an epidemiological study of heavy clay workers, by the same research team and using similar methods.
The equation based on coalworkers' risks predicted in the heavy clay workers 31 cases of abnormalities at grade 2/1+ on the International Labour Organization scale, greatly in excess of the eight cases observed. Statistical variation is an implausible explanation (P < 0.0001).
While there were some methodological differences between the studies, the disparity in risks provides some support for the case for further investigation of possible differences.
加强对工人空气中二氧化硅暴露的监管的压力日益增大，因为这可能导致严重疾病，在某些情况下疾病会迅速发展。然而，可吸入二氧化硅的估计风险在不同行业之间差异很大。
阐明有可吸入二氧化硅暴露记录的重粘土行业和煤炭行业工人之间的风险差异，以协助决定是否有理由进一步调查可能存在的差异。
我们应用了一个已发表的关于接触可吸入二氧化硅的放射学风险的公式，该公式来自对苏格兰煤矿工人（接触水平异常高）的研究，并将其应用于同一研究团队使用类似方法对重粘土工人进行的流行病学研究的暴露估计。
基于煤矿工人风险的公式预测，重粘土行业工人在国际劳工组织标准下有31例2/1+级异常情况，大大超过了观察到的8例。统计差异不太可能是解释原因（P<0.0001）。
虽然研究之间存在一些方法上的差异，但风险差异为进一步调查可能存在的差异提供了一定支持。
