Abstract
Objective
Whether coal mine dust exposure increases cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) risk was rarely explored. Our objective was to examine the association between coal mine dust exposure and cardiovascular risk.
Methods
We estimated cumulative coal mine dust exposure (CDE) for 1327 coal miners by combining data on workplace dust concentrations and work history. We used brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV, a representative indicator of arterial stiffness) and ten-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk to assess potential CVD risk, exploring their associations with CDE.
Results
Positive dose-response relationships of CDE with baPWV and ten-year ASCVD risk were observed after adjusting for covariates. Specifically, each 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in CDE was related to a 0.27 m/s (95% CI: 0.21, 0.34) increase in baPWV and a 1.29 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.46) elevation in OR (odds ratio) of risk of abnormal baPWV. Moreover, each 1 SD increase in CDE was associated with a 0.74% (95% CI: 0.63%, 0.85%) increase in scores of ten-year ASCVD and a 1.91 (95% CI: 1.62, 2.26) increase in OR of risk of ten-year ASCVD. When compared with groups unexposed to coal mine dust, significant increase in the risk of arterial stiffness and ten-year ASCVD in the highest CDE groups were detected.
Conclusion
The study suggested that cumulative exposure to coal mine dust was associated with elevated arterial stiffness and ten-year ASCVD risk in a dose-response manner. These findings contribute valuable insights for cardiovascular risk associated with coal mine dust.
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Data availability
The data supporting the conclusions of this study can be obtained upon a reasonable request directed to the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to all the coal miners who participated in this study, as well as to the local coal mining enterprise for their support.
Funding
This work was supported by National key research and development program of China (2022YFC2503202), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U22A20264), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2022CFB058), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 82273605 and 81803205). The funders did not play any role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; nor in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
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Xuezan Huang: Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing original draft, Writing – review & editing. Min Mu: Data curation, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. Bin Wang: Data curation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. Haozhe Zhang: Data curation, Software, Visualization. Yang Liu: Data curation, Software, Visualization. Linling Yu: Data curation, Visualization. Min Zhou: Data curation, Visualization. Jixuan Ma: Data curation, Visualization. Dongming Wang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Weihong Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.
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Huang, X., Mu, M., Wang, B. et al. Associations of coal mine dust exposure with arterial stiffness and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk in chinese coal miners. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 97, 473–484 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-024-02062-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-024-02062-2