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Updated: Jan 9, 2026
Establishing a Silicosis Rat Model via Exposure of Whole-Body to Respirable Silica
Published on: October 28, 2022
The Diagnostic Value of Routine Spirometry in Occupational Health Practice for Early Detection of Silicosis: A
Nele Van Loon1,2, Kevin Lamote2, David Ruttens3,4
1From the Department of Research and Development, Mensura Occupational Health Service, Brussels, Belgium (N.V.L., M.V., S.A.).
Objective:
Silicosis is a pneumoconiosis caused by respirable crystalline silica (RCS). As current surveillance methods have low sensitivity for early detection, we evaluated the value of prediagnostic occupational spirometry monitoring.
Methods:
To investigate the possibility of detecting disease, we assessed 58 RCS-exposed cases by linking lung function abnormalities to CT readings. Univariate, stepwise logistic regression and ROC analysis were performed.
Results:
Of 31 workers with RCS-related CT abnormalities, 25 were classified as silicosis. Fixed cutoff predicted values (FCO) for FEV 1 and FVC of <80% and FEV 1 /FVC of <0.7, FEV 1 % predicted decline >15%, and FEV 1 decline >60 mL/year were significantly associated with pathological outcome. Combining FCO ( P = 0.001) and percentage predicted method (PPM) ( P = 0.023) best predicted silicosis (AUC ROC = 0.84).
Conclusions:
To identify RCS-exposed workers requiring diagnostic referral, priority should be given to those with FCO, PPM, and annual FEV 1 decline abnormalities.
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