Pneumoconiosis

Pneumoconiosis (also called the Miners' Complaint) is the general term for a class of lung diseases where inhalation of dust has caused interstitial fibrosis. Pneumoconiosis often causes restrictive lung disease Diagnosable pneumoconiosis can occur without measurable impairment of lung function. Depending on extent and severity, it may cause death within months or years, or it may never produce symptoms. It is usually an occupational lung disease, typically from years of dust exposure during work in mining; textile milling; shipbuilding, ship repairing, sandblasting industrial tasks, rock drilling and agriculture. In 2013, it resulted in 260,000 deaths globally, up from 251,000 deaths in 1990. Of these deaths, 46,000 were due to silicosis, 24,000 due to asbestosis and 25,000 due to coal workers pneumoconiosis.

The West Australian government examined the condition in 1911 and reported on its effects on gold miners: "MINERS' COMPLAINT. WEST AUSTRALIAN INQUIRIES. From the report of the commissioner appointed by the Governor of West Australia to investigate and report upon pulmonary diseases amongst miners, the following remarks are made (says the 'Bendigo Advertiser') with regard to the main features of each stage of fibrosis, that is, the change produced in the lungs by the action of dust : -The early case is the man who finds that he is continually getting 'colds,' associated with cough, which he finds great difficulty in throwing off; he finds that his wind is not as good as it used to be, and that he cannot run so far nor work so hard as formerly, and in whom on examination the effort at expansion of the chest wall reveals a rigidity - a rigidity which has characteristics entirely its own, and which is not, as far as I am aware, seen in any other disease. At this early stage the man is apt to smile indulgently if it is suggested that there is anything wrong with his lungs, although he recognises clearly that his wind is not so good as formerly, and that he gets colds more often than he used to, and cannot throw them off so easily. The next stage in the disease is marked by the fact that the intervals between the attacks of 'cold on the chest' are less frequent and less lengthy - the bronchitis has become an established fact; the wind is now always short; occasionally attacks of 'asthma' occur, although hardly ever at night; expectoration is frequent, and a certain blueness of the lips and the face indicate that the heart is beginning to feel the strain. On examination the rigidity is more marked, roughening of the breath sounds confirm the hypothesis that the bronchitis has become established; emphysematous changes may be present, and the heart signs show the reason for the blueness of the lips and face. But the subject can still do an average day's work. When the subject finally has to cease work the advanced stage has been reached, and then all the features above detailed are emphasised; the heart and lungs becoming progressively less able to carry out their functions."