How does black lung disease affect the body?

For either simple or complicated pneumoconiosis, the damage causes the loss of blood vessels and air sacs in your lungs. The tissues that surround your air sacs and air passages become thick and stiff from scarring. Breathing becomes increasingly difficult. This condition is called interstitial lung disease.

Can you recover from black lungs?

There is no cure for black lung disease – we can only treat symptoms. Medications, such as inhaled steroids, can help patients breathe more easily. More severe cases can require oxygen and possibly lung transplants. One step patients can take is to stop smoking, which also destroys lung tissue.

What is the life expectancy of someone with black lung?

The mortality rate was 19.19%. The average life span was 12.1 (0.0–33.2) years. The average death age was 57.4 (33.0–83.0) years.

Does black lung get worse?

Unfortunately, Black Lung Disease is progressive, which means that the condition can develop and worsen over time even after the person has stopped working around coal.

How much are black lung benefits?

The basic black lung benefit is now $153.10 a month for a miner or widow and may rise to $306.10 if there are three or more dependents.

What can inhaling dust cause?

You may not think it’s a big deal when you breathe in dust, but for some people, it could bring on a lung disease called hypersensitivity pneumonitis. It’s an allergic reaction to particles in the dust, and it can cause symptoms like coughing and shortness of breath.

What is the difference between COPD and black lung?

The inhalation and accumulation of coal dust into the lungs increases the risk of developing chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although black lung disease may share many of the symptoms of COPD, it is not COPD and is not treated like COPD.

What are the stages of black lung?

There are two types of black lung disease: simple and complicated. Simple CWP means the lung has spots or scar tissue from the dust particles. Complicated CWP is called progressive massive fibrosis (PMF). People with PMF have a lot of scarring on their lungs.

Do people still get the black lung?

“Yet more coal miners are being diagnosed with this lung disease than we’ve seen since we began tracking black lung in the 1970s. We must do more to protect coal miners from breathing in coal mine dust and endeavor to detect early warning signs of the disease.”

Does black lung cause COPD?

Is black lung considered a disability?

Pursuant to federal law, Black Lung Disease becomes a “total disability” once it reaches a level of severity where the miner is not only unable to do his previous coal mining work, but also cannot (with consideration of education, work experience and other various work available) meet the physical demands of other coal …

Does black lung benefits affect Social Security disability?

Black lung benefits of a miner or widow are reduced by the amount of State workmen’s compensation, unemployment compensation, or State disability insurance payments received based on the miner’s disability.