ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2004
Silicosis prevalence and exposure-response relations in South African goldminers.
Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- Silicosis and silica dust sampling in mineral mining across 30 countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Occupational Exposure Profiles and Respiratory Health Outcomes Among Surface and Underground Miners: A Comparative Epidemiological Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Assessing the Influence of Socio-Demographic and Personal Traits (Knowledge, Attitude) on Practices Among Silica-Dust Exposed Mineworkers in the SADC Region.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Silicosis in Zambian ex-copper miners: A cross-sectional study.African journal of thoracic and critical care medicine · 2025Article
- The impact of environmental conditions on non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review of epidemiologic evidence.Journal of global health · 2024Article
- Prevalence and determinants of evidence of silicosis and impaired lung function among small scale tanzanite miners and the peri-mining community in northern Tanzania.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- How We Treat Drug-Susceptible Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Practical Guide for Clinicians.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Mining Migrant Worker Recruitment Policy and the Production of a Silicosis Epidemic in Late 20th-Century Southern Africa.Annals of global health · 2023Article
- Occupational Silica Exposure and Dose-Response for Related Disorders-Silicosis, Pulmonary TB, AIDs and Renal Diseases: Results of a 15-Year Israeli Surveillance.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Current global perspectives on silicosis-Convergence of old and newly emergent hazards.Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) · 2022Review
- COVID-19: a new burden of respiratory disease among South African miners?Current opinion in pulmonary medicine · 2021Review
- Access of migrant gold miners to compensation for occupational lung disease: Quantifying a legacy of injustice.Journal of migration and health · 2021Article
- Predictors of silicosis and variation in prevalence across mines among employed gold miners in South Africa.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Occupational Respirable Mine Dust and Diesel Particulate Matter Hazard Assessment in an Underground Gold Mine in Ghana.Journal of health & pollution · 2020Article
- Can the South African Milestones for Reducing Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Silicosis be Achieved and Reliably Monitored?Frontiers in public health · 2020Article
- Usefulness of occupation and industry information in mortality data in South Africa from 2006 to 2015.BMC public health · 2019Article
- Precarious transition: a mortality study of South African ex-miners.BMC public health · 2018Article
- Tackling injustices of occupational lung disease acquired in South African mines: recent developments and ongoing challenges.Globalization and health · 2018Article
- Small contribution of gold mines to the ongoing tuberculosis epidemic in South Africa: a modeling-based study.BMC medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsTo measure the prevalence of silicosis among black migrant contract workers on a South African goldmine and to investigate exposure-response relations with silica dust.
methodsIn a cross sectional study, 520 black goldminers (aged >37 years) were interviewed and had chest radiographs taken. Silicosis was defined as International Labour Organisation Classification radiological profusion of 1/1 or greater.
resultsMean length of service was 21.8 years (range 6.3-34.5). The mean intensity of respirable dust exposure was 0.37 mg/m3 (range 0-0.70) and of quartz 0.053 mg/m3 (range 0-0.095). The prevalence of silicosis was 18.3-19.9% depending on reader. Significant trends were found between the prevalence of silicosis and length of service, mean intensity of exposure, and cumulative exposure.
conclusionResults confirm a large burden of silicosis among older black workers in the South African goldmining industry, which is likely to worsen as such miners spend longer periods in continuous employment in dusty jobs. An urgent need for improved dust control in the industry is indicated. If the assumption of stability of average dust concentrations on this mine over the working life of this group of workers is correct, these workers developed silicosis while exposed to a quartz concentration below the recommended occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 0.1 mg/m3. This accords with a mounting body of evidence that an OEL of 0.1 mg/m3 is not protective against silicosis.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.