[Retrospective study of pneumoconiosis in Champagne-Ardenne]

This study was carried out in two departments of Champagne-Ardenne. The aim was to assess the level of retrieval in patient population suffering from pneumoconiosis who were hospitalised with this disorder, compared to another population who had contracted the same disease in the working environment and were known to the local social security benefit office in the North East (CRAMNE). A list of 77 names of hospitalised patients had been obtained following requests for mineralogical analysis addressed to a specialised national laboratory. A second list of 59 names of patients who were receiving compensation for pneumoconiosis was provided by CRAMNE. Five subjects were common to both populations. The discordance between the two was partly explained by the non-recognition of the system of compensation for indemnifiable occupational disease. The recruitment of hospitalised patients leads to a bias which influences the distribution of pneumoconiosis patients. Subjects presenting with the most consistent abnormalities in pulmonary function did not all figure amongst the notified cases.