ArticleThorax1997
Lung cancer in relation to exposure to silica dust, silicosis and uranium production in South African gold miners.
Article in Thorax, 1997. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 75 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of the epidemiological evidence of associations between quantified occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica and the risk of silicosis and lung cancer.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Lung cancer risk and occupational pulmonary fibrosis: systematic review and meta-analysis.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2024Pooled it
- Is exposure to silica associated with lung cancer in the absence of silicosis? A meta-analytical approach to an important public health question.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2009Pooled it
- Results of 15 years of extended follow-up of the German porcelain workers cohort study: lung cancer and silicosis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Artificial Space Weathering to Mimic Solar Wind Enhances the Toxicity of Lunar Dust Simulants in Human Lung Cells.GeoHealth · 2024Article
- Review
- Estimating the Impact of Changes to Occupational Standards for Silica Exposure on Lung Cancer Mortality.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2018Article
- Quantitative relationship between silica exposure and lung cancer mortality in German uranium miners, 1946-2003.British journal of cancer · 2012Article
- Epidemiology of Respiratory Disease in Malawi.Malawi medical journal : the journal of Medical Association of Malawi · 2006Article
- Health risks of gold miners: a synoptic review.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2003Review
- Exposure-response analysis and risk assessment for silica and silicosis mortality in a pooled analysis of six cohorts.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2002Article
- Nested case-control study of lung cancer in four Chinese tin mines.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2002Article
- Mortality from lung cancer among silicotic patients in Sardinia: an update study with 10 more years of follow up.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2001Article
- Crystalline silica exposure and lung cancer mortality in diatomaceous earth industry workers: a quantitative risk assessment.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2001Article
- Silica dust and lung cancer in the German stone, quarrying, and ceramics industries: results of a case-control study.Thorax · 1999Article
- Article
- Silica, compensated silicosis, and lung cancer in Western Australian goldminers.Occupational and environmental medicine · 1998Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA nested case-control study for lung cancer was performed on a cohort of 2260 South African gold miners in whom an association between exposure to silica dust and risk of lung cancer was previously reported. The objective was to investigate an expanded set of risk factors and also cancer cell type.
methodsThe 78 cases of lung cancer found during the follow up period from 1970 to 1986 were matched with 386 controls. Risk of lung cancer was related to smoking, exposure to silica dust, incidence of silicosis, and uranium production and the uranium content of the mine ore.
resultsThe risk of lung cancer was associated with tobacco smoking, cumulative dust exposure, duration of underground mining, and with silicosis. The best predictive model included pack years of cigarette consumption (adjusted relative risk (RR) = 1.0 for < 6.5 pack years, 3.5 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7 to 16.8) for 6.5-20 pack years, 5.7 (95% CI 1.3 to 25.8) for 21-30 pack years, and 13.2 (95% CI 3.1 to 56.2) for more than 30 pack years) and silicosis (RR = 2.45 (95% CI 1.2 to 5.2)). No association was found with uranium production. The lung tumour cell type distribution was 40.3% small cell carcinoma, 38.8% squamous cell, 16.4% adenocarcinoma, and 4.5% large cell carcinoma. Small and large cell cancer combined were associated with exposure to dust.
conclusionsThe results cannot be interpreted definitively in terms of causal association. Possible interpretations are: (1) subjects with high dust exposure who develop silicosis are at increased risk of lung cancer; (2) high levels of exposure to silica dust on its own is important in the pathogenesis of lung cancer and silicosis is coincidental; and (3) high levels of silica dust exposure may be a surrogate for the exposure to radon daughters.
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