Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32169972›Full record

ArticleOccupational and environmental medicine2020

Pneumoconiosis progression patterns in US coal miner participants of a job transfer programme designed to prevent progression of disease.

Noemi B Hall, David J Blackley, Cara N Halldin, A Scott Laney

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Occupational and environmental medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 13% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Uncovering the Factors Behind Rising Pneumoconiosis Rates: Central Appalachian Underground Coal Miners as a Case Study.New solutions : a journal of environmental and occupational health policy : NS · 2026
    Review
  2. What Losing the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Means for Respiratory Health.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Noemi B HallRespiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6710-2015
David J BlackleyRespiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
Cara N HalldinRespiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
A Scott LaneyRespiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA aol4@cdc.gov.ORCID 0000-0002-3036-8960
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health · US

Funding

Intramural CDC HHS CC999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesPneumoconiosis prevalence and severity among US coal miners has been increasing for the past 20 years. An examination of the current approaches to primary and secondary prevention efforts is warranted. One method of secondary prevention is the Mine Safety and Health Administration-administered part 90 option programme where US coal miners with radiographic evidence of pneumoconiosis can exercise their right to be placed in a less dusty area of the mine. This study focuses on characterising the progression of disease among US coal miners who participated in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-administered Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Programme (CWHSP) and exercised their part 90 job transfer option.

methodsChest radiograph classifications of working underground coal miners who exercised their part 90 job transfer option during 1 January 1986 to 21 November 2016 and participated in the CWHSP during 1 January 1981 to 19 March 2019 were analysed.

results513 miners exercised their part 90 option and participated in the CWHSP at least once during this time period. Of the 149 miners with ≥2 radiographs available, 48 (32%) showed progression after exercising part 90 and had more severe disease prior to exercising, compared with miners who did not progress (severity score of 2.8 vs 1.7, p=0.0002).

conclusionThe part 90 job transfer option programme is not routinely used as intended to prevent progression of pneumoconiosis among US coal miners. The one-third of miners who participated in part 90 and continued to progress, exercised their part 90 option at a later stage of disease compared with non-progressors.

Indexed as

Career MobilityCoal MiningAdultDisease ProgressionHumansMaleMiddle AgedPneumoconiosisPublic Health SurveillanceSeverity of Illness IndexUnited Statesepidemiologyoccupational health practicepneumoconioses

Identifiers

PMID32169972
PMCPMC7939698
OpenAlexW3010860467

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.