Clinical research studyProspective Risk of Rheumatologic Disease Associated with Occupational Exposure in a Cohort of Male Construction Workers
Section snippets
Overview
This analysis exploited an existing national cohort of male employees in the Swedish construction industry that has had extensive follow-up with well-characterized health outcomes. The cohort includes subjects with a range of work-related exposures to vapors, gas, dust, and fumes, but also includes a large segment without appreciable likelihood of substantive respiratory inhalant exposure on the job. We wished to use this cohort to assess the risk of rheumatologic diseases associated with
Results
Among the 240,983 male participants in the Swedish construction health examinations analyzed here, the mean age at baseline was 32.1 ± 11.6 years and, although altogether 43% were never smokers, more than a third were still actively smoking at study entry. Details of smoking status by job-exposure matrix occupational inhalant exposure category are presented in Table 1. The differences in smoking status by exposure category were statistically significant (P < .01). Although silica exposure was
Discussion
Our findings are consistent with the known association between silica exposure and autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, and dermatomyositis), showing that this can be observed in a large industrial sector cohort with prospective follow-up. As importantly, our findings also extend the association of these diseases to other exposures, in particular to nonsilica inorganic dusts. Indeed, in the other inorganic dust-exposed group, the estimated
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Funding: This work was supported in part by a visiting professorship (PDB) at the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte). Funding was also provided to allow presentation of this research at an international colloquium silicosis held at Sciences Po, Paris, France, November 2014.
Conflict of Interest: None.
Authorship: All authors had access to the data and a role in writing the manuscript.