NPR

New Studies Confirm A Surge In Coal Miners' Disease

Confirming what NPR reported in 2016, new studies show the rate of the advanced stage of the deadly disease black lung growing in central Appalachia, including more demand for lung transplants.
The rate of the advanced stage of the deadly disease black lung is growing in central Appalachia, according to a new study.

More coal miners in central Appalachia have suffered the advanced stages of the deadly disease black lung than previous government research has found, and more miners working in the region today have earlier stages of the disease.

Those are two of the findings in a bundle of studies released Tuesday and expected to be released soon, which focus on the epidemic of black lung disease first reported by NPR in 2016.

"It does really underscore that this is a real phenomenon," says Kirsten discussed Tuesday at a San Diego conference of the American Thoracic Society.

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