Impact of arterial blood gas analysis in disability evaluation of the bituminous coal miner with simple pneumoconiosis

The Department of Labor has set guidelines for the use of resting arterial blood gas analysis in determination of total and permanent disability for coal workers' pneumoconiosis. To determine the prevalence with which bituminous coal miners fall below the arterial tensions of both oxygen and carbon dioxide published in the Federal Register, we studied 1012 miners who had both reproducible spirometry and arterial blood gas analysis as part of their disability evaluation. Eighty-seven percent of impaired miners could be identified by the spirometric criteria. Thirteen percent of impaired bituminous coal miners had acceptable pulmonary function but were eligible for black lung benefits by the blood gas guidelines. This population would have been missed if blood gas analysis were excluded from the evaluation process. On the other hand, approximately 25% of the blood gas analyses that were performed could be eliminated if a policy was adopted to do this test only on miners with spirometry that exceed the federal guidelines.