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A case/control study was conducted in which men with asthma working underground in gold mines were compared with underground gold miners without asthma in order to determine if their working environment was a risk factor. A total of 78 underground miners with asthma and 46 without asthma employed on gold mines in South Africa made up the study group. The men in both groups were of similar age, but those with asthma had worked underground for a longer period of time than those without asthma. During the course of their work, 20 of the asthmatic and none of the control group had been exposed to paint and cement. Of the asthmatic group, 50 were atopic, while only three of the control group were atopic. The mean age at onset of asthma was 30.6 plus or minus 10.73 years. Six of the men had developed asthma before starting work in the mines, and the disease had developed 13.4+/-8.22 years after starting to work underground in the remaining 72 men. The authors conclude that the late age of onset, the onset after exposure to the underground environment, and the longer period worked underground suggest that the disease among these workers was work related.
South African Medical Journal, 86(7):804-807, 1995. (22 references)
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