Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide

The hypothesized role of deep coal mining in the development of community-based outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis has gone largely unexplored. Taking the coalfields of Britain as a historical testbed, techniques of linear and binomial logistic regression were used to assess the association betwe...

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Main Authors: Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R., Cliff, Andrew D.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44703/
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author Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R.
Cliff, Andrew D.
author_facet Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R.
Cliff, Andrew D.
author_sort Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description The hypothesized role of deep coal mining in the development of community-based outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis has gone largely unexplored. Taking the coalfields of Britain as a historical testbed, techniques of linear and binomial logistic regression were used to assess the association between meningococcal meningitis rates and male occupation rates for coal mining in England and Wales during the national epidemic of 1931–32 and in its aftermath. Adjusting for the epidemiological effects of age, residential density, recent changes in the number of families, housing stock and low social class, the analysis yielded evidence of a significant and positive association between coal mining occupation rates and notified levels of meningitis activity in the epidemic period. Communities in areas of the world that currently maintain substantial deep coal extraction industries may be at increased risk for the epidemic transmission of meningococcal meningitis.
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spelling nottingham-447032020-05-04T19:55:55Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44703/ Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R. Cliff, Andrew D. The hypothesized role of deep coal mining in the development of community-based outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis has gone largely unexplored. Taking the coalfields of Britain as a historical testbed, techniques of linear and binomial logistic regression were used to assess the association between meningococcal meningitis rates and male occupation rates for coal mining in England and Wales during the national epidemic of 1931–32 and in its aftermath. Adjusting for the epidemiological effects of age, residential density, recent changes in the number of families, housing stock and low social class, the analysis yielded evidence of a significant and positive association between coal mining occupation rates and notified levels of meningitis activity in the epidemic period. Communities in areas of the world that currently maintain substantial deep coal extraction industries may be at increased risk for the epidemic transmission of meningococcal meningitis. Elsevier 2017-09 Article PeerReviewed Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R. and Cliff, Andrew D. (2017) Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide. Health & Place, 47 . pp. 115-125. ISSN 1873-2054 deep coal mining; ecological study; England and Wales; meningococcal meningitis; regression analysis http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829217307190 doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.08.002 doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2017.08.002
spellingShingle deep coal mining; ecological study; England and Wales; meningococcal meningitis; regression analysis
Smallman-Raynor, Matthew R.
Cliff, Andrew D.
Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
title Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
title_full Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
title_fullStr Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
title_full_unstemmed Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
title_short Deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in England and Wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
title_sort deep coal mining and meningococcal meningitis in england and wales, 1931–38: ecological study, with implications for deep shaft mining activities worldwide
topic deep coal mining; ecological study; England and Wales; meningococcal meningitis; regression analysis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44703/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44703/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44703/