Abstract:
Background Pneumoconiosis is the most prevalent and widest damaging occupational disease in China, and it is irreversible. Due to lung tissue damage, declined body defense, and immune dysfunction, pneumoconiosis patients are prone to developing tuberculosis. Pneumoconiosis complicated with tuberculosis shows complex pathological manifestations, and the patients are often highly resistant to antituberculous drugs, resulting in difficulties in treatment.
Objective In order to make more tailored prevention and control measures against pneumoconiosis, we investigate the prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of pneumoconiosis complicated with tuberculosis in Huaibei Mining Group.
Methods The data on occupational disease diagnosis of all pneumoconiosis cases (including deaths) in Huaibei Mining Group diagnosed by Huaibei Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute from 1 November 1963 to 31 December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed, including work unit, name, gender, date of birth, type of work, date of first dust exposure, length of dust exposure, pneumoconiosis type, diagnosis time and stage of pneumoconiosis, diagnosis time and stage of concurrent tuberculosis. The temporal, spatial, and population distributions of the disease were described and related factors were evaluated.
Results In a total of 6460 confirmed pneumoconiosis patients, the age of onset was (51.26±9.27) years, the age of first dust exposure was (23.29±4.88) years, the length of dust exposure was (23.19±7.56) years. Among them, 1 141 (17.66%) were pneumoconiosis patients complicated with tuberculosis. Pneumoconiosis accompanied by tuberculosis was associated with the year of dust exposure (OR=0.480), length of dust exposure (OR=0.801), age of first dust exposure (OR=1.281), and pneumoconiosis stage (OR=2.167).
Conclusion The prevalence rate of pneumoconiosis accompanied by tuberculosis increases with older age of first dust exposure and increased pneumoconiosis stage, and decreases with prolonged year of dust exposure and length of dust exposure. Therefore, a twopronged approach combining both pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis prevention is suggested for the control of the coinfection.