Occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica and incident idiopathic interstitial pneumonias and pulmonary sarcoidosis: a national prospective follow-up study.

This study suggests that silica inhalation may be related to pulmonary sarcoidosis and idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, though these findings may to some extent be explained by diagnostic misclassification. The observed exposure-response relations for silicosis at lower cumulative exposure levels than previously reported need to be corroborated in analyses that address the limitations of this study.