Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS)

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In March 2012, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 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, after taking into account smoking and other lung cancer risk factors. 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 NCI-led case-control study and the NIOSH-led cohort study were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. For more information about the study email Dr. Debra Silverman. 

• Study Publications
• Requests for Study Data

Study Publications

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. Mar 2, 2012.

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. March 2, 2012.

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 March; 56 (4): 389–400

Editorials, Letters-to-the-Editor and Response

• Silverman DT, Lubin JH, Blair BE, 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;106(8).
• Rushton L. The problem with diesel. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012 Jun 6;104(11):796-7.
• Silverman DT, Attfield MD.  Response to “The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A nested case-control study of lung cancer and diesel exhaust” and “The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study: A cohort mortality study with emphasis on lung cancer.”  J Natl Cancer Inst. 2012;104(23):1848-49.
• 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.

Requests for Study Data

NCI and NIOSH 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. The Diesel Exhaust in Miners Study (DEMS) has ended and has fulfilled the objectives reported in the research protocol (PDF). As the lead agency for the DEMS – Case-Control Study, NCI is providing an application process for potential users to obtain the DEMS – Case-Control Study data. NIOSH is providing a separate application process for potential users to obtain data supporting the DEMS – Cohort Mortality Study (see NIOSH website). Data requestors must have a legitimate public health or scientific need for the data and must agree to comply with certain restrictions on the use of the data.

Interested parties are required to submit an application and sign a data use agreement prior to receiving any dataset. To receive an application for the DEMS– Case-Control Study data, send an email to Dr. Debra Silverman. In the subject line, type "Request for DEMS – Case-Control Study Data," and in the body of the email include all contact information.

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. To access exposure data underlying the exposure assessment papers, you may download (1) a zip archive of the data and (2) the documentation.

For more information, contact Dr. Debra Silverman.

Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch - Research Areas