By KATE MISHKIN
Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The rate of black lung disease in coal miners is growing, particularly in miners who work in central Appalachia, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health this week.
One in five coal miners who’ve worked in West Virginia, Kentucky or Virginia for more than 25 years has coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP), according to the study, which was published Thursday. Nationally, more than 10 percent of miners with the same amount of experience have the debilitating and irreversible disease, which is caused by exposure to coal dust.
Of those miners with at least 25 years of experience, one in 20 has black lung disease that’s progressed to progressive massive fibrosis.
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