Occupational Respiratory Disease Surveillance

Silicosis

Worker is sandblasting while wearing
full-coverage protective gear.

From 1988–2002, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio maintained sentinel (case-based) silicosis surveillance systems; Michigan and New Jersey continue to maintain their sentinel surveillance systems. California conducted sentinel surveillance for silicosis from 2000–2002. New York conducts surveillance for all occupational lung diseases, including silicosis, through its long-standing Occupational Lung Disease Registry.

Hospital discharge data represent the primary ascertainment source. Other data sources include health care professional reports, review of death certificates, and workers' compensation data. In Michigan and New Jersey, demographics, work history, and medical information used for case confirmation and description are obtained through a combination of the initial case ascertainment source, a review of medical records, and follow-up telephone interview with the reported cases or their surviving next-of-kin.

Currently, all states funded under the State-Based Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance cooperative agreement (Office of Extramural Programs (OEP), ANNOUNCEMENT NO. PAR-04-106) conduct population-based “Fundamental” surveillance for pneumoconiosis (hospitalizations and mortality).

Surveillance Guidelines for State Health Departments

Recommended guidelines for identifying and reporting actual or suspected cases of silicosis.

• Reporting Guidelines for Silicosis
• Surveillance Case Definition for Silicosis

NIOSHTIC-2

NIOSHTIC-2 is a searchable bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.

NIOSHTIC-2 Search Results for Silicosis
Search terms: silica or silicosis AND 'CA' or 'MI' or 'NJ' or 'WI' or 'NY' or 'OH' or 'TX' or 'NC' or 'NM' or 'IL' And Not animals

Select Resources and References Related to Silicosis

Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), Occupational Health Indicators, 2000–2003.
External link http://www.cste.org/dnn/ProgramsandActivities/OccupationalHealth/OccupationalHealthIndicators/tabid/85/Default.aspx The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) in collaboration with NIOSH, established a recommended set of indicators for occupational health surveillance. Two of the 19 indicators concern pneumoconiosis, Indicator #9:Pneumoconiosis hospitalizations and Indicator #10:Pneumoconiosis mortality (external links).