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Objective: To investigate the convergence of individual findings relating to psychological distress, alcohol use and social network (SN) to identify their associated clusters within Australian mineworkers., Methods: This study used cross-sectional survey data from 3,056 participants across 12 Australian mines. Latent class analysis used the scores of Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Social Network Index., Results: Class 1 (moderate to very high psychological distress, low SN score and low to moderate AUDIT) included 39% (n=1,178) participants and class 2 (low to moderate psychological distress and AUDIT and very high SN) composed of 61% (n=1,873) participants. Class 1 was associated with younger age (OR=0.65, 95%CI=0.53-0.81), being a current smoker (OR=1.45, 95%CI=1.18-1.79), and reporting a history of anxiety (OR=3.00, 95%CI=2.23-4.05) and/or depression (OR=2.18, 95%CI=1.65-2.90)., Conclusions: These findings highlight the challenges the mining sector faces regarding the welfare of its employees. Implications for public health: Modifiable work factors associated with lower social networks and higher psychological distress need addressing at an individual and industry level through targeted and specifically tailored multi-component interventions., (© 2020 The Authors.)

Work-family conflict among underground coal miners not only leads their mental disorders but also may cause coal accidents. The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between Work-family conflict (WFC) and mental health, testing the Psychological capital (PsyCap) plays a moderating role in this relationship. The cross-sectional survey was performed in Shanxi Province, China during the August to October 2017. 986 miners from five coal mines were recruited in this study. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to explore the moderating role of psychological capital. The result showed that Work-family conflict was positively related to Anxiety Symptoms and Depressive Symptoms. Psychological capital (PsyCap) moderated the relationship between WFC and Anxiety, Depressive Symptoms. The findings illustrate that psychological capital was an important way to improve miners' mental health. Managers should promote organization support and investment in PsyCap to improve miners' mental health.

Objectives: Coal workers' pneumoconiosis is caused by exposure to respirable coal mine dust. The self-protection of underground coal miners (UCM) plays an irreplaceable role against this threat. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the predictors of self-protective behaviour (SPB) in Chinese UCM based on the health belief model (HBM)., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 341 UCM in January 2016 in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, People's Republic of China. Data was collected using a self-reported questionnaire, which included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, HBM variables and SPB. An exploratory factor analysis of the principal components with varimax rotation was carried out on the HBM-related items. Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used to assess the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics, HBM variables and SPB., Results: Multiple regression analysis demonstrated the monthly income (B=0.403, p=0.001), the internal cues to action (B=0.380, p<0.001) and external cues to action (B=0.401, p<0.001) as the predictors of UCM's SPB, accounting for 24.8% of total variance (F=34.96, p<0.001), while the cognition variables of HBM were not significantly associated with SPB., Conclusion: The results suggested that both internal and external cues to action were powerful predictors for SPB. These findings highlight that further efforts are required to provide the UCM with periodic health check-up reports and promote the active role of doctors and family members in miners' decision-making to simulate them for better SPB., Ethics Approval: All data collection procedures received ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of Xuhui District Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (XHHEC-2016-7)., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background: Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) among underground miners exposed to silica remains a global problem. Although well described in gold and coal mining, risk in other mining entities are not as well documented. This study aims to determine dust-related dose response risk for PTB among underground miners exposed to silica dust in Zambia's copper mines., Methods: A cross sectional study of in-service miners (n = 357) was conducted at Occupational Health and Safety Institute (OHSI), Zambia. A systematic review of medical data over a 5-year period from assessments conducted by doctors at OHSI and statutory silica exposure data (n = 16678) from the Mine Safety Department (MSD) were analysed. Lifetime cumulative exposure metrics were calculated. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between PTB and lifetime exposure to silica, while adjusting for various confounders., Results: The median respirable silica dust level was 0.3 mg/m(3) (range 0.1-1.3). The overall prevalence of PTB was 9.5 % (n = 34). High cumulative respirable silica dust category showed a statistically significant association with PTB (OR = 6.4 (95 % CI 1. 8-23)) and a significant trend of increasing disease prevalence with increasing cumulative respirable silica dust categories was observed (ptrend < 0.01). Smoking showed a statistically significant association with PTB with OR = 4.3 (95 % CI 1.9-9.9)., Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the association of increased risk for certified active TB with cumulative respirable dust in a dose related manner among this sample of copper miners. There is need to intensify dust control measures and incorporate anti-smoking interventions into TB prevention and control programmes in the mines.

The authors considered topics of occupational and general comorbidity of occupational lumbosacral radiculopathy in coal miners (2791 examinees) observed over 1976-2014 in occupational center. In patients having lumbosacral radiculopathy without occupational mixed diseases, the occupational disease was diagnosed at the age 3-5 years younger, and 2-4 years earlier from primary visit. Analysis of occurrence of general comorbid conditions with lumbosacral radiculopathy revealed some regularities: patients manifested with symptoms due to vibration have more frequent arterial hypertension than in those with lumbalgia, whereas in risk group of hearing affected by noise IHD was more possible.

Objectives: Working in mines and quarries has been associated with an elevated lung cancer risk but with inconsistent results for coal miners. This study aimed to estimate the smoking-adjusted lung cancer risk among coal miners and compare the risk pattern with lung cancer risks among ore miners and quarrymen., Methods: We estimated lung cancer risks of coal and ore miners and quarrymen among 14 251 lung cancer cases and 17 267 controls from the SYNERGY pooled case-control study, controlling for smoking and employment in other at-risk occupations., Results: Ever working as miner or quarryman (690 cases, 436 controls) was associated with an elevated odds ratio (OR) of 1.55 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.34-1.79] for lung cancer. Ore miners (53 cases, 24 controls) had a higher OR (2.34, 95% CI 1.36-4.03) than quarrymen (67 cases, 39 controls; OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.21-3.05) and coal miners (442 cases, 297 controls; OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.18-1.67), but CI overlapped. We did not observe trends by duration of exposure or time since last exposure., Conclusions: This pooled analysis of population-based studies demonstrated an excess lung cancer risk among miners and quarrymen that remained increased after adjustment for detailed smoking history and working in other at-risk occupations. The increase in risk among coal miners were less pronounced than for ore miners or quarrymen.