ArticleDeutsches Arzteblatt international2021
Mortality in Underground Miners in a Former Uranium Ore Mine–Results of a Cohort Study Among Former Employees of Wismut AG in Saxony and Thuringia.
Article in Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Radon exposure and potential health effects other than lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Global scenario of silica-associated diseases: A review on emerging pathophysiology of silicosis and potential therapeutic regimes.Toxicology reports · 2025Review
- Does radon cause diseases other than lung cancer? Findings on mortality within the German uranium miners cohort study, 1946-2018.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2025Article
- Silicosis Incidence and Mortality after Occupational Exposure with Silica Dust: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2024Review
- Latin America and the Caribbean Code Against cancer 1st edition: Environment, occupation, and cancer.Cancer epidemiology · 2023Article
- Efficient clinical data analysis for prediction of coal workers' pneumoconiosis using machine learning algorithms.The clinical respiratory journal · 2023Article
- Risk of Developing Non-Cancerous Central Nervous System Diseases Due to Ionizing Radiation Exposure during Adulthood: Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.Brain sciences · 2022Review
- The Janus face of uranium in toxicology.Archives of toxicology · 2022Article
- Where do you live and what do you do? Two questions that might impact your kidney health.Frontiers in nephrology · 2022Review
- [Silica-induced scleroderma in miners in former uranium ore mining (Wismut AG)].Der Hautarzt; Zeitschrift fur Dermatologie, Venerologie, und verwandte Gebiete · 2021Article
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4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFrom 1946 to 1990, more than 400 000 people were employed by Wismut AG, a Soviet/Soviet-German corporation (German abbreviation: SAG/ SDAG), in the East German states of Saxony and Thuringia. In the early years in particular, employees were exposed to large amounts of radon and respirable crystalline silica.
methodsIn a cohort of 35 204 former underground employees of Wismut AG, mortality was analyzed in comparison to the general male population of East Germany, and the pertaining standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated.
results18 510 persons in the study cohort died in the follow-up period 1960-2013. Mortality from lung cancer was 2.36 higher in the study cohort than in the general population (95% confidence interval, [2.28; 2.45]); the associated SMRs rose markedly with increasing radon exposure. Mortality from silicosis and other types of pneumoconiosis was elevated by a factor of 22.62 [21.20; 24.11], and the associated SMRs rose exponentially with increasing exposure to respirable crystalline silica. Mortality from both of these causes was still markedly elevated more than 20 years after Wismut AG had ceased its activities. Mortality from a wide range of other diseases was elevated as well, with the following SMRs: stomach cancer, 1.28 [1.17; 1.40]; liver cancer, 1.34 [1.15; 1.55]; all tumors other than lung cancer, 1.06 [1.02; 1.09]; infections, 1.18 [1.01; 1.38]; cerebrovascular diseases, 1.33 [1.26; 1.41]; and influenza/pneumonia, 1.13 [1.01; 1.27]. Mortality from a small number of other causes was found to be markedly lowered in the study cohort (mental illness, renal diseases, and nervous system diseases). The role of occupational risk factors, lifestyle differences and other reasons for the latter results is unclear.
conclusionUnderground miners employed by Wismut AG displayed marked excess mortality due to silicosis/other pneumoconiosis and lung cancer. The contribution of individual occupational risk factors for these and other causes of death with increased SMR are being further investigated in analyses within the study cohort.
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