The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS)

In March 2012, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) completed a retrospective cohort mortality and nested case-control study of 12,315 workers at eight non-metal mining facilities to investigate risk of lung cancer in relation to quantitative measures of historical exposure to diesel exhaust. Elevated mortality from other causes among diesel exhaust-exposed miners was examined as well. An extensive effort to characterize current and historical exposures to diesel exhaust and to develop estimates of personal exposures was an intrinsic part of the study. The methods for this effort were published in five papers in the Annals of Occupational Hygiene. In 2012, results from the NIOSH-led cohort study and the NCI-led case-control study were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Study Publications

Cohort Mortality Study

• Attfield MD, Schleiff PL, Lubin JH, Blair A, Stewart PA, Vermeulen R, Coble JB, Silverman DT. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A Cohort Mortality Study with Emphasis on Lung Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012 Jun; 104(11): 869-83.
• Attfield MD, Schleiff PL, Lubin JH, Blair A, Stewart PA, Vermeulen R, Coble JB, Silverman DT. Erratum: The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A Cohort Mortality Study with Emphasis on Lung Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014 Aug; 106(8): 1-4.

Nested Case-Control Study

• Silverman DT, Samanic CM, Lubin JH, Blair A, Stewart PA, Vermeulen R, Coble JB, Rothman N, Schleiff PL, Travis WD, Ziegler RG, Wacholder S, Attfield MD. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A Nested Case-Control Study of Lung Cancer and Diesel Exhaust. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012 Jun; 104(11): 855-68.

Exposure Assessment

• Stewart PA, Coble JB, Vermeulen R, Schleiff P, Blair A, Lubin J, Attfield M, Silverman DT. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: I. Overview of the exposure assessment process. Ann Occup Hyg. 2010 Oct; 54(7): 728-46.
• Coble JB, Stewart PA, Vermeulen R, Yereb D, Stanevich R, Blair A, Silverman DT, Attfield M. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: II. Exposure monitoring surveys and development of exposure groups. Ann Occup Hyg. 2010 Oct; 54(7): 747-61.
• Vermeulen R, Coble JB, Yereb D, Lubin JH, Blair A, Portengen L, Stewart PA, Attfield M, Silverman DT. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: III. Interrelations between respirable elemental carbon and gaseous and particulate components of diesel exhaust derived from area sampling in underground non-metal mining facilities. Ann Occup Hyg. 2010 Oct; 54(7): 762-73.
• Vermeulen R, Coble JB, Lubin JH, Portengen L, Blair A, Attfield MD, Silverman DT, Stewart PA. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: IV. Estimating historical exposures to diesel exhaust in underground non-metal mining facilities. Ann Occup Hyg. 2010 Oct; 54(7): 774-88.
• Stewart PA, Vermeulen R, Coble JB, Blair A., Schleiff P, Lubin JH, Attfield M, Silverman DT. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: V. Evaluation of the Exposure Assessment Method. Ann Occup Hyg. 2012 Mar; 56(4): 389–400.

Editorials, Letters-to-the-Editor and Responses

• Rushton L. The problem with diesel. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012 Jun 6; 104(11): 796-7.
• Ogden TL. Diesel exhaust and underground miners- Letter from the Editor. Ann Occup Hyg. 2010 Oct; 54(7): 727.
• Borak J, Bunn WB, Chase GR, Hall TA, Head HJ, Hesterberg TW, Sirianni G, Slavin TJ. Comments on the Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study- Letter to the Editor. Ann Occup Hyg. 2011 Apr; 55(3): 339-42.
• Stewart PA, Coble JB, Vermeulen R, Blair A, Lubin J, Attfield M, Silverman DT. Comments on the Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study – Author’s Reply. Ann Occup Hyg. 2011; 55(3): 343-346.
• Morfeld, P. Diesel exhaust in miners study: how to understand the findings? J Occup Med Tox 2012 Jun; 7(1): 10.
• Silverman DT, Attfield M.  Letter to the Editor; RE: ‘Diesel exhaust in miners study: how to understand the findings?’ by Peter Morfeld. J Occup Med Tox 2013 Mar 5 Epub.
• Morfeld, P. Letter to the Editor; RE: ‘Diesel exhaust in miners study: how to understand the findings? – Author Reply. J Occup Med Tox 2013 Apr 23 Epub.
• Silverman DT, Lubin JH, Blair A, Vermeulen R, Stewart PA, Schleiff PL, Attfield MD. RE: The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS): A Nested Case-Control Study of Lung Cancer and Diesel Exhaust. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014 Aug; 106(8): 1-3.

Worker Health Study Summary

• Health Information for Workers that Worked Around Diesel Exhaust. Jan 2014 (Fact Sheet)

Requests for Study Data

NIOSH and NCI believe that transparency and public health and scientific advancements are best served when, for an appropriate and legitimate public health purpose, data are shared with researchers and other public health agencies in an open, timely, and appropriate way. Requestors interested in the data supporting the Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS) can access these data through the Research Data Center (RDC) at the National Center for Health Statistics by following the standard RDC procedures for accessing non-NCHS Restricted Data (https://www.cdc.gov/rdc/b1datatype/dt130.htm).

In addition, NCI is providing the opportunity to download the exposure data and documentation underlying the exposure assessment methods described in the five published exposure assessment papers shown above in the Study Publications. The exposure data underlying the exposure assessment papers can be accessed here ( https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/what-we-study/diesel-exhaust-miners-study-dems#Study-Data).