Table 1. Review of the 27 selected studies on biopersistent granular dust and airway obstruction by first author [26-52].
| First author/ year | Country |
Bg dust exposure
|
Industry/ measurements of exposure to inhalable and respirable dust [mg·m-³] | parameter chosen for meta-analysis (MA) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| yes | no | ||||
| Abrons 1988 | USA | 2607 | 729 | Portland cement/ inhalable dust (GM*) 2.9 [mg·m-³], respirable dust (GM) 0.57 [mg·m-³] high vs. zero | FEV1 |
| AbuDhaise 1997 | Jordan | 99 | 129 | Portland cement/ 3 levels of exposure to respirable dust (GM) 0.5/1.6/3.9 [mg·m-³] (high vs. low exposure) | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Beach 2001 | Australia | 572 | 79 | Bauxite open pit mining/ inhalable dust (GM) 0.44 - 0.65 mg·m-³, respirable dust (GM) 0.14-0.26 mg·m-³, Quartiles <2.5 /2.5-6.0/ 6.1-10/>10 mg·m-3·years | FEV1, FEV1/FVC – without SE, not suited for MA |
| Boojar 2002 | Iran | 141 | 65 | Manganese underground mining/ total dust (manganese content), cumulative respirable dust (JEM) [mg·m-³·years] | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Chan-Yeung 1989 | Canada | 164 | 308 | aluminium smelter ‚High‘, if >50% working hours in the potroom | FEV1 |
| 75 | 115 | Decrease of FEV1 [ml ·year-1] | |||
| Chen 2006 | Taiwan | 394 | 309 | Steelworkers/ inhalable dust (AM) 3.55 mg·m-³, follow-up 1.90 mg·m-³ | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Fell 2003 | Norway | 119 | 50 | Portland cement | Part of Nordby 2011 not included in MA |
| Fine 1976; Teil III | USA | 65 | 141 | Rubber workers/ respirable dust 1.05-3.00 mg·m-3 high vs. zero (cumulative dust years) | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Fine 1976; Teil IV | USA | 91 | 141 | Talc workers/ respirable dust 0.47-3.55 mg·m-3 high vs. zero (cumulative dust years) | |
| Gardiner 1993 | Europe | 509 | 277 | Carbon black/ inhalable dust max. 1.60 mg·m-3 and respirable dust >0.45 mg·m-3 in 5 exposure groups, JEM cumulative exposure [mg·m-³·months] | FEV1 |
| Gardiner 2001 | Europe | Phase 2: 2324 | Phase 3: 1994 | Phase 2, cumulative 263.2 mg·m-³·months; current exposure 0.77 mg·m-³Phase 3, cumulative 245.9 mg·m-³· months; current exposure 0.57 mg·m-³ | Decrease of FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC per 1 mg·m-3 |
| Harber 2003 | USA | 416 | 236 | Carbon black / total, inhalable, and respirable dust, current and cumulative (JEM), classification into pentile groups | FEV1, decrease of FEV1 per mg·m-3·years without SE, not suited for MA |
| Huvinen 1996 | Finland | 36 | 93 | Stainless steel production/ Cr+3, Fe+2Cr2O4 (Chromit), „average dust concentration“ 1 - 1.8 mg·m-3 | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Johnsen 2008 | Norway | 1812 | 532 | Smelter / inhalable dust and respirable dust according to working area | FEV1 |
| Kongerud 1990 | Norway | 1760 | 0 | Aluminium potroom workers/ total dust (median) 3.25 mg ·m-³ ; OR for obstruction according to duration of employment | FEV1 minus predicted divided by residual standard deviation – not suited for MA |
| Kuo 1999 | Taiwan | 291 | 105 | Foundry workers/ respirable dust 1.89 mg·m-3 (molding), 2.76 mg·m-3 (furnace), 2.07 mg·m-3 (after- processing) | FEV1, FEV1/FVC, |
| 308 | 112 | decrease of FEV1 [ml·year-1] without SE, not suited for MA | |||
| Lotz 2008 | Germany | 1.Study A: 402 B: 438 | 0 | Underground potash mining Company A: respirable dust (AM) 1.96 mg·m-³ and inhalable dust (AM) 14.2 mg·m-³ ; cumulative respirable dust 613 mg·m-³·months; cumulative inhalable dust 4419 mg·m-³·months; Company B: respirable dust (AM) 0.88 mg·m-³ and inhalable dust (AM) 5.65 mg·m-³ ; cumulative respirable dust 165 mg·m-³·months, cumulative inhalable dust 1060 mg·m-³·months | |
| 2.Study A: 290 B: 278 | 0 | Decrease of FEV1 per 1·mg·m-³ | |||
| Meijer 1998 | Netherland | 70 | 69 | Rubber workers/ inhalable dust (AM) 2 mg·m-³ cumulative (JEM) 32.5 mg·m-³·years | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| 70 | 69 | decrease of FEV1 per mg·m-3·year | |||
| Mwaiselage 2004 | Tanzania | 115 | 102 | Portland cement/ inhalable dust (GM) 10.6 mg·m-³, cumulative dust (GM) 69.1 mg·m-³·years (high vs. low exposure) | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| 115 | 102 | decrease of FEV1 per 1 mg·m-3·year | |||
| Neghab 2007 | Iran | 88 | 80 | Portland cement/ inhalable dust (AM**) 53.4 mg·m-³ respirable dust (AM) 26 mg·m-³ | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Neghab 2007 | Iran | 97 | 110 | Rubber industry/ inhalable dust (AM) 41.8 mg·m-³ and respirable dust (AM) 19.8 mg·m-³ | FEV1, FEV1/FVC |
| Nordby 2011 | Europe | 1406 | 629 | Portland cement/ inhalable dust (GM) 0.85 mg·m-³, classification by means of a JEM into quartiles <0.49/0.49-1.08/1.09—1.73/>1.74 [mg·m-3 ] | FEV1, FEV1/FVC and OR FEV1/FVC < 70% per 1 mg·m-3 inhalable dust |
| Selden 2001 | Sweden | 34 | 61 | Dolomite mining/ total dust (median): 2.8 mg·m-3 | FEV1 |
| Soyseth 2011 | Norway | 3392 | 532 | Smelter/ inhalable dust and respirable dust according to working area | OR for FEV1/FVC <70% per 1 mg·m-3 |
| Townsend 1985 | USA | 1146 | 0 | Aluminium production/ cumulative total dust (JEM) [mg·m-3 years] comparing < 100 mg·m-3 years and ≥ 100 mg·m-3 ·years for three categories of duration <10 years, 10-19 years, ≥ 20 years | FEV1 minus KNUDSON predicted FEV1 – not suited for MA |
| Wang 1996 | USA | 475 | 0 | Steel workers No dust measurements, exposed years in „dusty areas“ | Number of exposed years only, -not suited for MA |
| Wild 1995 | France | 138 | 55 | Talc producing/ respirable dust (GM) 1.87 mg·m-³ cumulative exposure according to JEM mg·m-³·years | Standardized residuals for FVC and FEV1 – not suited for MA |
For the studies with two rows, the 1st row is related to the cross-sectional analysis and the 2nd row to the longitudinal analysis
*GM: geometric mean
**AM: arithmetic mean
***JEM: job-exposure matrix