Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Medical Journal logoLink to British Medical Journal
. 1974 Jul 20;3(5924):145–147. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5924.145

Circulating Antinuclear Antibody and Rheumatoid Factor in Coal Pneumoconiosis

C A Soutar, Margaret Turner-Warwick, W Raymond Parkes
PMCID: PMC1611279  PMID: 4602134

Abstract

Circulating antinuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor have been measured in 109 coal miners with pneumoconiosis whose chest radiograph showed a range of abnormalities varying from simple pneumoconiosis of mild degree to advanced progressive massive fibrosis.

At a screening dilution of 1/10 the overall incidence of antinuclear antibody was 17%. In almost half of the positive cases the titre was 1/40 or greater.

The prevalence of antinuclear antibody was lowest in those with simple pneumoconiosis (9%) and highest in those with category C progressive massive fibrosis (27%). A similar but less striking trend was seen with rheumatoid factor, ranging from 6% in simple pneumoconiosis to 18% in category C progressive massive fibrosis. The trend of increasing frequency of autoantibodies with advancing radiographic category was most marked when the frequencies of antinuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor were combined. These autoantibodies were found in 13% of the miners with simple pneumoconiosis and 45% of those with category C progressive massive fibrosis (P for the trend=0·01).

Full text

PDF
146

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beck P. W., Handwerker H. O., Zimmermann M. Nervous outflow from the cat's foot during noxious radiant heat stimulation. Brain Res. 1974 Mar 8;67(3):373–386. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(74)90488-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Burrell R. Immunological aspects of coal workers' pneumoconiosis. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1972 Dec 29;200:94–105. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1972.tb40180.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. CAPLAN A., PAYNE R. B., WITHEY J. L. A broader concept of Caplan's syndrome related to rheumatoid factors. Thorax. 1962 Sep;17:205–212. doi: 10.1136/thx.17.3.205. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Davies D., Lindars D. C. Rheumatoid pneumoconiosis. A clinical study. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1968 Apr;97(4):617–629. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1968.97.4.617. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Kang K. Y., Yagura T., Yamamura Y. Antinuclear factor in pneumoconioses. N Engl J Med. 1973 Jan 18;288(3):164–164. doi: 10.1056/nejm197301182880324. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lippmann M., Eckert H. L., Hahon N., Morgan W. K. Circulating antinuclear and rheumatoid factors in coal miners. A prevalence study in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Ann Intern Med. 1973 Dec;79(6):807–811. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-79-6-807. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. MIALL W. E., CAPLAN A., COCHRANE A. L., KILPATRICK G. S., OLDHAM P. D. An epidemiological study of rheumatoid arthritis associated with characteristic chest x-ray appearances in coal-workers. Br Med J. 1953 Dec 5;2(4848):1231–1236. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.4848.1231. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Pernis B., Vigliani E. C., Selikoff I. J. Rheumatoid factor in serum of individuals exposed to asbestos. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1965 Dec 31;132(1):112–120. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1965.tb41094.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Turner-Warwick M., Haslam P. Antibodies in some chronic fibrosing lung diseases. I. Non organ-specific autoantibodies. Clin Allergy. 1971 Mar;1(1):83–95. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.1971.tb02450.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Turner-Warwick M., Parkes W. R. Circulating rheumatoid and antinuclear factors in asbestos workers. Br Med J. 1970 Aug 29;3(5721):492–495. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5721.492. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES