Prevalence Characteristics of Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP) in a State-Owned Mine in Eastern China

Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP) is the primary occupational disease in China. However, information about the definite prevalence of CWP is only partially available. The aims of our study were to assess the prevalence characteristics of CWP in a state-owned coal mine, evaluate the effects of control measures and develop further preventive strategies for CWP. The total study population included 495 cases who were diagnosed with CWP from the construction of this coal mine to the end of October 2014. Individuals’ information, including duration of dust exposure, job titles, age as first diagnosis, stages of CWP, CWP progress, complications with pulmonary tuberculosis, death and others were collected and analyzed. The results showed that 71.11% of 495 CWP cases were stage I and 90.71% were involved in tunneling or coal mining. The mean dust exposure period in CWP patients was 26.7 years, the mean latent period was 29.3 years and the mean diagnosed age was 50.3 years old. The proportion of CWP diagnosed after ending dust exposure were remarkably increased with the time passing. Among the CWP cases, 36 (7.27%) were complicated with pulmonary tuberculosis. The mortality of patients with stage III was the highest (60.71%) (p < 0.0001). Our data obviously show that more strict policies to protect coal miners are needed to be implemented in China, especially for tunneling and mining workers

Common Variants in <i>LRP2</i> and <i>COMT</i> Genes Affect the Susceptibility of Gout in a Chinese Population

<div><p>Gout is a common inflammation disease resulting from an increase in serum uric acid. Nearly 70% of uric acid is excreted via the kidneys. To date, evidence for an association between genetic loci and gout is absent, equivocal or not replicated. Our study aims to test variants in two genes abundantly expressed in the kidney, <i>LRP2</i> and <i>COMT</i>, for their association with uric acid and gout. In total, 1318 Chinese individuals were genotyped for rs2544390 in <i>LRP2</i> and rs4680 in <i>COMT</i>. These <i>LRP2</i> and <i>COMT</i> gene polymorphisms showed no significant effect on uric acid (<i>P</i> = 0.204 and 0.188, separately); however, rs2544390 in <i>LRP2</i> did influence uric acid levels in individuals with BMI ≥ 25 (<i>P</i> = 0.009). In addition, the allele frequency distributions of the two loci showed a significant difference between gout patients and healthy controls. A missense variation in rs4680 (G > A) decreased the risk of gout (OR = 0.77, <i>P</i> = 0.015), whereas the T allele of rs2544390 was associated with gout pathogenesis risk (OR = 1.26, <i>P</i> = 0.020). The present study provides the first evidence for an association between <i>COMT</i> and gout. Rs2544390 in <i>LRP2</i> only influenced uric acid levels in individuals with BMI ≥ 25, which might explain the discrepant results among previous studies. In addition, we are the first to identify the association between <i>LRP2</i> and gout in a Chinese population and to confirm this association in Asians.</p></div

Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) from each study about the association of the rs2544390 polymorphism and gout in Asians.

<p>A meta-analysis in fixed-effect model was used to test the association.</p