La remergencia de la silicosis como enfermedad profesional en España, 1990-2019

Background: The presence of new sources of occupational exposure to crystalline silica has contributed to an increased incidence of silicosis. Spain was one of the first countries to identify new occupational risk sectors such as quartz agglomerates. The objective of this work was to describe the incidence of silicosis in Spain between 1990 and 2019 and to determine the main occupational sectors affected. Methods: Data on occupational disease cases were obtained from the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. Disease rates were computed by occupational sector, and analyses were conducted of their time course and their geographical, sex and age distributions. Results: Data were available on 4,418 cases (96.1% male). The mean annual number of cases was 1,223% higher between 2015 and 2019 than between 1990 and 1995. By occupational sector, 50% were in “Fabrication of other mineral non-metallic products”, 18.5% in “Extraction of non-metallic nonenergetic minerals”, 10.2% in “Construction”, 6.1% in “Metallurgy”, 3.1% in “Coal mining” and 12% in other sectors. Galicia registered the greatest number of cases (32.9%), followed by Castile and Leon (14%), Andalusia (10%) and the Basque Country (9.1%). The greatest increase in its incidence was in coal mining, possibly due to the dismantling of this sector and drastic reduction in the workforce. Conclusions: Our results suggest the importance of the manufacturing, machining and installation of quartz agglomerates in the re-emergence of silicosis in Spain.