Mortality and morbidity in populations in the vicinity of coal mining: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundEvidence of the association of coal mining with health outcomes such as increased mortality and morbidity in the general population has been provided by epidemiological studies in the last 25 years. Given the diverse sources of data included to investigate different health outcomes in the exposed populations, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) can be used as a single classification standard to compare the findings of studies conducted in different socioeconomic and geographic contexts. The ICD classifies diagnoses of diseases and other disorders as codes organized by categories and chapters.ObjectivesIdentify the ICD codes found in studies of morbidity and/or mortality in populations resident or in proximity of coal mining and assess the methods of these studies conducting a systematic review.MethodsA systematic database search of PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus following the PRISMA protocol was conducted to assess epidemiological studies from 1990 to 2016. The health outcomes were mapped to ICD codes and classified by studies of morbidity and/or mortality, and the categories and chapters of the ICD.ResultsTwenty-eight epidemiological studies with ecological design from the USA, Europe and China were included. The exposed populations had increased risk of mortality and/or morbidity by 78 ICD diagnosis categories and 9 groups of ICD categories in 10 chapters of the ICD: Neoplasms, diseases of the circulatory, respiratory and genitourinary systems, metabolic diseases, diseases of the eye and the skin, perinatal conditions, congenital and chromosomal abnormalities, and external causes of morbidity. Exposed populations had non-increased risk of 9 ICD diagnosis categories of diseases of the genitourinary system, and prostate cancer.ConclusionsThere is consistent evidence of the association of coal mining with a wide spectrum of diseases in populations resident or in proximity of the mining activities. The methods of the studies included in this review can be integrated with individual-level and longitudinal studies to provide further evidence of the exposure pathways linked to increased risk in the exposed populations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-018-5505-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Air Pollution Emissions 2008–2018 from Australian Coal Mining: Implications for Public and Occupational Health

“…In addition to miners, air pollution from mining activities, including extraction, processing, and bulk transport, impacts the health of the community at large [10,37,38]. Our analysis confirmed that PM10 exposure levels were significantly elevated in mining communities relative to urban or rural nonmining communities.…”

“…Air monitoring stations in coal mining areas are scarce; in Queensland and New South Wales, for example, there are 19 such monitors compared to 45 in nonmining urban areas. No direct health assessments were made in this study, although considerable additional evidence indicates that coal mining adversely impacts public health [10,43].…”

“…These elevated levels are present despite the relatively small populations in mining districts, at amounts higher than found in larger urban settings. Vulnerable populations (e.g., children, pregnant women, elderly people, or those with pre-existing conditions) may be at most risk from mining related pollutants [10,[39][40][41].…”

“…In addition to occupational risks, coal mining also affects surrounding communities. Surface mining in particular contributes to local air pollution [7][8][9], with documented genotoxic effects [8] and increased risks for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease, among community populations [10][11][12][13]. A recent study in Australia reported that air quality as measured by sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NOx), or particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 micrometers (PM10) or ≤2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) was significantly elevated in coal mining regions of New South Wales compared to other parts of the state [14].…”

Meteorological normalisation of PM10 using machine learning reveals distinct increases of nearby source emissions in the Australian mining town of Moranbah

“…Previous studies have shown clear links between coal mining and respiratory diseases ( Perret et al, 2017 ; Laney and Weissman, 2014 ). Populations living within close proximity to coal mines have been shown to be at an increased risk of mortality and/or morbidity across numerous disease classifications including neoplasms, diseases of the circulatory, respiratory and genitourinary systems, metabolic diseases, diseases of the eye and skin, perinatal conditions, congenital and chromosomal abnormalities, and external causes of morbidity ( Cortes-Ramirez et al, 2018 ).…”