Incidence of asbestosis, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, and silicosis
per 100,000 men, BC, 1994-2007
In brief
- Asbestosis, silicosis, and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis are fibrotic lung diseases typically associated with exposure to high levels of respirable dust exposure.
- We used outpatient, hospital, and compensation data to examine geographic and time trends for incidence of these pneumoconioses in BC.
- We found that between 1992 and 2006, asbestosis incidence among men increased from 5.5 to 6.2/100,000, and silicosis and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis decreased from 2.3 to 0.3/100,000 and 2 to 0.4/100,000, respectively. Similar trends were observed among women, based on small numbers.
- Incidence of all three diseases varied widely (up to twenty-fold) across BC regions, and showed association with known sites of historic exposure.
Related publications
Pneumoconioses in British Columbia, Canada, 1997-2007
Research poster [PDF 1,242 KB]
Mooney D, McLeod C, Peters C, Xu F, Koehoorn M, Demers P. International Conference on Epidemiology in Occupational Health. Oxford, UK; September 7-9, 2011.
Abstract: Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2011;68(S1):A118.
Geographic variation of pneumoconioses in British Columbia
Conference presentation [PDF 3,206 KB]
McLeod C, Mooney D, Xu F, Koehoorn M, Peters C, Demers P. Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health Conference. Toronto, ON; May 28-29, 2010.
Time trends for asbestosis, silicosis, and coal workers’ pneumoconiosis in British Columbia
Conference presentation [PDF 432 KB]
Demers P, McLeod C, Peters C, Xu F, Koehoorn M. Canadian Association for Research on Work and Health Conference. Toronto, ON; May 28-29, 2010.
