Life expectancy of coal miners with an established diagnosis of occupational diseases

Introduction. It is known that workers employed in harmful and dangerous working conditions initially have better health characteristics compared to the population as a result of medical and professional selection. Harmful production factors cause significant damage to health and can lead to the formation of occupational diseases. Preventive medical and rehabilitation care for patients with occupational pathology, combined with social and economic support measures, contributes to maintaining health and increasing life expectancy. It is important to understand how medical and social assistance to patients compensates for the damage caused to the health of workers by harmful working conditions.

The study aims to compare the life expectancy of coal miners with an established diagnosis of occupational disease (OD) and the male population of the same region.

Materials and methods. The researchers formed a cohort of coal miners in the Rostov region based on the materials of the database of the State Medical Institution of the Rostov region "Medical and Rehabilitation Center No. 2". All surveyed coal miners have established occupational diseases in different years. The observation period was 26 years from 01.01.1990 to 31.12.2015. Of the total cohort at the end of the observation period, 1,898 people were alive, 8082 people died. The experts examined the working conditions of miners, the average age of registration of the OD, depending on the nosological form. The researchers have conducted a comparative assessment of their life expectancy and the life expectancy of the male population of the same region, calculated from mortality tables.

Results. The calculation of the average life expectancy of miners showed that its value in subgroups with different forms of OD differed significantly depending on the diagnosis: from 58.7 to 68.2 years. A comparative analysis of the life expectancy of coal miners with an established diagnosis of OD and in population control revealed a lower life expectancy of miners. The smallest differences in life expectancy we have noted in those miners who have a diagnosis of pneumoconiosis. Their life compared to the men of the Rostov region was shorter by less than a year. At the same time, miners with a diagnosis of occupational bronchitis lived 5.3 years less and with a diagnosis of vibration disease — 4.8 years compared to the population control.

Conclusion. The study showed that coal miners diagnosed with occupational diseases have a lower average life expectancy than in the population, despite the "healthy worker effect", which we have as a result of medical selection and self-selection of persons to work in contact with harmful production factors. The lower life expectancy of workers with a diagnosis of occupational diseases we trace both in total for all diseases, and for individual forms of OD.

Ethics. The authors have conducted the study in compliance with Ethical standards.

Contribution:
Tikhonova G.I. — research concept and design, text writing, editing;
Piktushanskaya T.E. — concept and design of the study;
Gorchakova T.Yu. — statistical data processing, text writing;
Serebryakov P.V. — writing text, editing.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interests. The authors declare no conflict of interests.

Received: 26.04.2022 / Accepted: 07.07.2022 / Published: 15.07.2022

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