title: Is pneumoconiosis a factor of severity in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although working in a coal mine is a wellknown risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there insufficient data explaining the association between acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) and coal worker pneumoconiosis (CWP). This study aimed to evaluate the features of patients with complicated CWP admitted for AECOPD and whether complicated CWP has any effect on increasing the severity of this disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was designed as a retrospective cohort study. A total of 106 hospitalized patients were identified to have CWP. Patients who did not perform spirometry and with simple CWP were excluded. A total of 51 patients with complicated CWP, was included in the study group. Comparison group was selected from the patients with AECOPD without pneumoconiosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with complicated CWP, when compared to patients without pneumoconiosis, had longer hospitalization times (12.96 ± 8.49 days, 9.67 ± 5.21 days respectively, p=0.021), a higher cost of hospitalization (€2029 ± 2724, €931 ± 820 respectively, p=0.003), and higher rates of infective microorganisms in respiratory secretions and/ or blood cultures (61.3%, 29.6% respectively, p=0.016). We found that significance of high cost was dependent on duration of hospitalization and culture positivity. The most frequently encountered infective microorganism in both groups with complicated CWP and without pneumoconiosis was pseudomonas aeruginosa.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preventive measures for CWP in regions with high prevalence of coal mining have a very important role in the fight against COPD, which has significant morbidity and mortality rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Bülent Ecevit University, Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Örnek
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Atalay
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Erboy
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Altınsoy
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanriverdi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Uygur
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003032:Coal Mining; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011009:Pneumoconiosis / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013147:Spirometry