Chinese Medical Journal study identifies major risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with pneumoconiosis in China
Researchers from China studied the link between pulmonary tuberculosis and the related risk factors including pneumoconiosis
2023-03-01
(Press-News.org)
Pneumoconiosis comprises a group of heterogeneous lung diseases resulting from the inhalation of mineral dust. It is an occupational hazard with significant economic and social implications. Notably, patients with pneumoconiosis have an elevated risk of contracting pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). Unfortunately, pneumoconiosis has a strong presence in China. However, extensive population-based studies on the prevalence of PTB in patients with pneumoconiosis have not been conducted in China since almost three decades.
To bridge this gap, a team of researchers led by Dr. Huanqiang Wang from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China, recently conducted a study to understand the epidemiological characteristics of PTB and its risk factors in patients with pneumoconiosis in China. Their study was published in volume 135 of the Chinese Medical Journal on December 20, 2022.
In 2019, China issued the “National Action Plan to Stop Tuberculosis”. Elaborating on the reasons underlying such an initiative, Dr. Wang says, “By the end of 2021, a total of 915,000 cumulative cases of pneumoconiosis had been reported in China, with an average of 13,000 newly diagnosed patients annually in the past 10 years. China bears the most significant burden of pneumoconiosis across the world. Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is a respiratory infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) infection, which seriously endangers people’s health. It is one of the leading causes of morbidity and death worldwide and is listed as a significant infectious disease in China.”
In order to learn more about pneumoconiosis and its association with PTB, the research team launched a questionnaire-based survey targeted towards patients of different backgrounds. Participating patients met the conditions of a clear history of exposure to mineral dust, a chest X-ray showing abnormal appearance in the posteroanterior view, and some disease-related symptoms. Moreover, the research team ensured that other pulmonary diseases were differentially diagnosed as per the established protocol. Next, qualified occupational disease physicians and nurses interacted with these patients. The pneumoconiosis cases included patients with official occupational disease diagnostic certificates and patients clinically diagnosed by qualified physicians according to the GBZ 70-2015 Diagnosis of Occupational Pneumoconiosis.
The findings of the survey suggested that the prevalence of PTB in patients with pneumoconiosis (n = 10,137) was as high as 7.5%. The average dust exposure time was found to be 19 ± 10 years and the average age at which patients with pneumoconiosis commenced smoking was 23 ± 8 years. Both smoking and alcohol consumption were found to be higher in patients from rural neighborhoods as compared to patients from urban neighborhoods.
On conducting statistical analyses, the team found that risk factors also included in-hospital exposure to other patients with PTB. In addition, smoking, low body mass index, low personal income/unemployment, and years of exposure to dust were statistically significant risk factors for the development of PTB.
Additional relevant risk factors included lack of work-related injury insurance (WRII), being born in a rural area, living in western regions, household exposure to patients with PTB, complications of pulmonary bullae or pneumothorax, and hospitalization history. Among all the rural patients, former alcohol drinkers exhibited a relatively higher PTB risk. All of the above associations persisted even after adjusting for confounding factors such as age, sex, and pneumoconiosis type.
The statistically determined population attributable fraction (PAF)—the contribution of a risk factor to the burden of disease— was 13.2%, 12.5%, and 11.6% for birth in a rural area, lack of WRII, and in-hospital exposure to patients with PTB, respectively.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) believes that health inequity caused by inequitable social status and resource allocation is the most fundamental cause of social determinants affecting society’s health status. Our study is the first to systematically apply the concept and model of CSDH to analyze PTB’s social determinants and risk factors in patients with pneumoconiosis. We also calculated the PAFs of significant risk factors for PTB with pneumoconiosis for the first time,” adds senior author Dr. Tao Li from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The authors are hopeful that with effective measures such as the promotion, prevention, diagnosis, control, and treatment of pneumoconiosis and enhanced social security, the incidence of PTB will diminish considerably in China over the years.
***
Reference
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/CM9.0000000000002486
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2023-03-01
PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA [March 1, 2023] — The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) today announced the NCCN 2023 Annual Conference will debut a new hybrid format, including in-person events at a new venue. This marks the first time in three years that this premier oncology meeting will be held in-person, and the first-ever time at the Orlando World Center Marriott, starting on March 31.
“We’ve heard from many people who learn better by being in the ‘room where it happens,’” said Robert W. ...
2023-03-01
One of the biggest potential single sources of carbon emissions from wooded parts of Norway has four legs, weighs as much as 400-550 kg and has antlers.
That’s right — moose can reduce carbon storage in clearcut sites equivalent to as much as 60 per cent of the annual fossil fuel carbon emissions from a region, a new study shows.
“Moose are an ecosystem engineer in the forest ecosystem, and strongly impact everything from the species composition and nutrient availability in the forest,” said Gunnar Austrheim, an ecologist at the NTNU University Museum who was one of the study’s co-authors. “A grown animal can eat 50 kilograms ...
2023-03-01
A new Florida Atlantic University study on America’s urban travel trends shows important variations in travel behaviors across income, home ownership, ethnicity, gender, age, and life-cycle stages. The sixth in a series of studies compared changes in travel modes, trip frequency, trip distance and vehicle ownership among a range of socioeconomic groups using nationwide travel survey data since 1977.
The most notable trend, published in the journal Transportation Research Part D, reveals that although private automobiles continue to be the dominant travel mode in American cities, the share of car trips has slightly and steadily decreased ...
2023-03-01
Chicago, March 1, 2023 — Sharon K. Inouye, M.D., M.P.H., Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Milton and Shirley F. Levy Family Chair and Director of the Aging Brain Center, Marcus Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife has been named the editor in chief of JAMA Internal Medicine.
An internationally recognized leader in internal medicine, geriatrics, and aging research, Dr. Inouye’s research focuses on delirium and functional decline in hospitalized older patients. She is currently the overall principal investigator of the Successful Aging after ...
2023-03-01
Chemotherapy affects the ability of a patient’s immune system to attack pancreatic tumors, a new study shows.
Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter Cancer Center, the work revolves around the immune system, which includes T cells designed to attack foreign organisms like viruses. To spare normal cells, the system uses “checkpoint” molecules like PD1 on T cell surfaces to turn off their attack when they receive the right signals. The body also recognizes tumors as abnormal, but cancer cells ...
2023-03-01
Transgender men can, and often wish to, become pregnant. However, they do need extra guidance and care providers often lack the necessary knowledge and skills. Amsterdam UMC is the first to conduct qualitative research into the experiences of Dutch transgender people with maternity care. This research is now avaliable as a pre-print in Midwifery.
Transgender men often undergo medical procedures to adjust their bodies to their male gender identity. These medical interventions can affect fertility. Some transgender men therefore choose not to undergo these treatments, postpone them or, even, to temporarily stop them. ...
2023-03-01
A study just published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) explored the role of omega-3 fatty acids, especially EPA and DHA, and whether they might be protective against contracting and/or suffering adverse outcomes of COVID-19 infection.
The study compared the risk for three COVID-19 outcomes: 1-testing positive, 2-hospitalization, and 3-death as a function of baseline plasma DHA levels.
DHA levels (% of total fatty acids) were measured by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy but were converted to Omega-3 Index (red blood ...
2023-03-01
Certain diseases, including Alzheimer’s, are currently considered “undruggable” because traditional small molecule drugs can’t interfere with the proteins responsible for the illnesses. But a new technique that specifically targets and breaks apart certain proteins — rather than just interfering with them — may offer a pathway toward treatment. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have, for the first time, designed a compound that targets and breaks down a posttranslationally modified protein closely associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers have been exploring targeted protein degradation (TPD) as a way to get at ...
2023-03-01
Wastewater can provide clues about a community’s infectious disease status, and even its prescription and illicit drug use. But looking at sewage also provides information on persistent and potentially harmful compounds, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), that get released into the environment. Now, researchers in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology Letters report an unexpected source of these substances in wastewater systems — toilet paper.
PFAS have been detected in many personal care products, such as cosmetics and cleansers, that people use every day and then wash down ...
2023-03-01
PULLMAN, Wash – Glacier National Park is home to around 50 Canada lynx, more than expected, surprising scientists who recently conducted the first parkwide occupancy survey for the North American cat.
The Washington State University-led survey reveals the iconic predator resides across most of Glacier’s 1,600 square-mile landscape, although at lower densities than in the core of its range further north.
“The population in the park is still substantial and exceeded our expectations,” said Dan Thornton, WSU wildlife ecologist ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Chinese Medical Journal study identifies major risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis in patients with pneumoconiosis in China
Researchers from China studied the link between pulmonary tuberculosis and the related risk factors including pneumoconiosis
