[Serious silicosis still exits in Sweden]

Many measures have been taken in Sweden to eliminate the occurrence of serious silicosis. However, between 1997 and 2013 there were 111 deaths with silicosis as underlying cause, 110 men and 1 woman. In most cases the deceased was rather old; only fourteen persons were below 74 years of age. We have studied the exposure between 2007 and 2012 in the 71 persons who died of silicosis as underlying or contributing cause through medical records. We could find information regarding 48 of them. Ten persons worked in mines, 10 in stone industry, 14 with crushing or blasting of rock, 4 in foundries, 3 were concrete workers and 7 suffered exposure in other industries.  The study shows that the measures taken in Sweden have not been sufficient to totally eliminate serious silicosis.