A longitudinal study of pulmonary function in coal miners in Lorraine, France.

A longitudinal study of pulmonary function and radiological change has been conducted on 141 nonsmoking coal miners and 256 smoking coal miners from Lorraine, France. At the time of the first examination occasioned by radiological change or shortness of breath, the men averaged between 46.6 years and 50.

[Small irregular pulmonary radiological anomalies seen in coal miners in the Lorraine region].

Amongst the pulmonary radiological abnormalities more or less suggestive of pneumoconiosis seen in 1 044 miners from Lorraine, there were 976 cases of typical pneumoconiosis: 154 "P.M.F.

[Functional respiratory disorders in miners of the Lorraine coal basin at the time of their retirement].

A clinical, radiological (RX) and spirographic examination and a measurement of lung transfer for CO (TCO), following the steady state method, were performed in 655 coal-miners. They had worked for an average of 30 years in the Lorraine coal-mines and their mean age was 50 years. Among the non-pneumoconiotics, 20% of non-smokers and 35% of smokers displayed ventilatory obstructive disturbances.

[A method of estimating alveolo-arterial gradient and arterial pressure of CO2, without analysis of blood].

In 31 normal and 378 patients suffering from various bronchopulmonary diseases, a relation was established experimentally between TCO and the alveolo-arterial gradient of CO2. From TCO and CO2 output, this relation allows to obtain a reproducible estimation of the alveolo-arterial gradient and of the arterial pressure of CO2 by a non-bloody method with sufficient clinical accuracy. Moreover, this methods permits to interpret TCO steady state more easily and especially so under unusual ventilatory conditions.