Background: The prevalence of coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) in U.S. coal miners has increased, and severe presentations are increasingly common.
Methods: We describe trends in lung transplantation during 1996-2014 for recipients with a primary diagnosis of CWP or pneumoconiosis unspecified, and we summarize recipient characteristics and estimate survival.
Results: A total of 47 transplants were included; nearly three-quarters were performed during 2008-2014. All recipients were male, 96% were white, and the mean age was 56 years. Mean FEV1 % was 35%; mean FVC% was 53%. Mean time on a waitlist was 155 days, and 60% of transplants were bilateral. Median survival was 3.7 years.
Conclusions: These transplants reflect the use of a scarce resource for an entirely preventable disease, and highlight the need for enhanced efforts to reduce coal mine dust exposures.
Keywords: coal mining; coal workers’ pneumoconiosis; lung transplantation; occupational lung disease.
Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.