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Sex-Related Differences in the Risk of Silicosis Among Chinese Pottery Workers: A Cohort Study
Satiavani Poinen-Rughooputh1, Mahesh Shumsher Rughooputh, Yanjun Guo
1Department of Occupational & Environmental Health (Dr Poinen-Rughooputh, Dr Guo, Dr Lai, Dr Sun, Dr Chen); Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubating), School of Public Health (Dr Poinen-Rughooputh, Dr Guo, Dr Lai, Dr Sun, Dr Chen); and Department of Nephrology, Tongji Hospital (Dr Rughooputh), Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Objectives:
To investigate the effect of sex on the risk of silicosis and to explore any interaction between cigarette smoking and sex in the development of silicosis.
Methods:
The cohort was selected from eight Chinese pottery factories. Diagnoses of silicosis were based on 1986 Chinese pneumoconiosis Roentgen diagnostic criteria. Data on cigarette smoking were collected by face-to-face interviews in 1989 and 2003.
Results:
Eight thousand eight hundred and eighty seven dust-exposed workers were included. Men had a 77% higher incidence of silicosis than women. At lower pack-years of smoking, men were 72% more at risk than women. The latency period was found to be longest in female never-smokers and shortest in female ever-smokers.
Conclusions:
Men had a higher risk of developing silicosis than women. Cigarette smoking increased the risk in both sexes, more so in women.
