The epidemiological characteristics of welders' pneumoconiosis in Tianjin in 2001-2020 / 公共卫生与预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of welders' pneumoconiosis cases reported from 2001 to 2020 in Tianjin, and to provide a scientific basis for formulating prevention and control strategies for welders' pneumoconiosis. Methods A database was established based on the data of all welders' pneumoconiosis cases reported in Tianjin from 2001 to 2020，and SPSS 24.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Results (1) From 2001 to 2020，there were 376 cases of welders' pneumoconiosis reported in Tianjin，with 356 new cases (91.05%). There were fewer progressed and death cases, which were 13 and 7 cases, respectively; (2) The number of new cases showed a trend of increasing firstly and then decreasing with the reporting year. The dust-exposure years were concentrated from 1970 to 1989，with the number of cases accounting for 69.94% of the total; (3) The median dust-exposure year of welders' pneumoconiosis new cases from 2001 to 2020 was 25.92 years. The median diagnosis age was 54.30 years old，which increased with the reporting year（F=20.23，5.13，P0.05）; (5) The main industries were general and professional equipment manufacturing industry and ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry. Conclusion The incidence of new cases of welder pneumoconiosis in Tianjin is relatively low and has significantly decreased in recent five years. The age of diagnosis and length of service for dust exposure are on the rise, indicating that the incidence of pneumoconiosis among welders has been effectively controlled. However, the impact of welding fumes on workers' health cannot be ignored. The control and engineering governance should be strengthened to reduce the impact of welding fumes on workers' health, and to achieve the goal of ultimately eliminating welders' pneumoconiosis.