Evidence mapPaperPMID 39609256Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of industrial medicine2025

The Association Between Employment in Coal Mining and History of Injury, Current Pain, and Prescription Opioid Use.

Lee S Friedman, Leonard H T Go, Nhan Dang, Brett Shannon, Tessa Bonney, Devon Richardson, Robert A Cohen, Kirsten S Almberg

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of industrial medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Lee S FriedmanDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9312-6099
Leonard H T GoDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Nhan DangDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Brett ShannonDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6257-5315
Tessa BonneyDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Devon RichardsonDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Robert A CohenDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7141-8795
Kirsten S AlmbergDivision of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8405-6997

Funding

ChicAgo Center for Health and EnvironmenT (CACHET)P30ES027792 · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2025 to 2025
$1.6M
NIEHS NIH HHS P30 ES027792This research was supported by the grant AFCTG-22R2-158 from the Alpha Foundation for the Improvement of Mining Safety and Health, Inc.
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundCoal mining involves heavy physical demand, which is associated with increased risk of injury and long-term musculoskeletal health disorders and chronic pain. Management of chronic or recurrent pain is in turn associated with prescription opioid use and risk of opioid use disorder (OUD).

methodsWe analyzed clinical data from 5463 coal miners evaluated between 2004 and 2015. Using an iterative text mining procedure, we analyzed structured clinical notes to extract information on occupational histories and clinical data. We evaluated associations along the causal chain using a series of multivariable logistic regression models to determine the relationship between (1) specific mining occupations and history of traumatic injury, (2) history of traumatic injury and current pain, and (3) current pain and current prescription opioid use.

resultsAmong these mostly-former coal miners (mean age 62.4 years), the average coal mining tenure was 27.3 years; 88.4% reported being previously injured, 92.3% reported suffering from current pain and 39.2% reported current prescription opioid use. Occupations involving the most strenuous mining work were associated with a history of traumatic injury. A history of traumatic injury to body regions of the head/neck/back/spine was associated with current pain involving the head/neck/back/spine (adjusted OR = 5.04; CI 95%: 4.46, 5.70; p < 0.001). In a separate model, reported current pain of the head/neck/back/spine was associated with current prescription opioid use (aOR = 2.66; CI 95%: 2.35, 3.01; p < 0.001).

conclusionsThese miners had a high prevalence of self-reported current pain, and certain specific mining occupations were more strongly associated with a history of injury, pain, and prescription opioid use.

Indexed as

Analgesics, OpioidCoal MiningOccupational InjuriesOpioid-Related DisordersAdultAgedChronic PainEmploymentFemaleHumansLogistic ModelsMaleMiddle AgedOccupational DiseasesAnalgesics, Opioidinjuryminingoccupationopioidpainwork

Identifiers

PMID39609256
PMCPMC11646363

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.