{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T07:35:04Z","timestamp":1790753704986,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,9]],"date-time":"2024-02-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1707436800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"funder":[{"name":"Acad\u00e9mie de Recherche et de l\u2019Enseignement Sup\u00e9rieur \u2013 Commission Universitaire pour le D\u00e9veloppement"},{"name":"KU Leuven Alumni Ontwikkelingssamenwerking vzw"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>More than half the cobalt needed for vehicle electrification originates from the southern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with a substantial part being extracted by artisanal miners.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>To investigate oxygen saturation during underground work among cobalt artisanal miners.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>In a field survey, we measured oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate by pulse oximetry in 86 miners from two underground mines and 24 miners from a surface mine at four different time points: before descent into the mine (T1), at 50 minutes in the mine (T2), upon leaving the shaft (T3), and 10 minutes after having left the mine (T4).<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Miners working underground (\u201336 to \u2013112 meters) were somewhat older (34.8\u2005\u00b1\u20056.7 years) than those working in the surface mine (32.0\u2005\u00b1\u20056.5 years), and they worked more hours daily (12.6\u2005\u00b1\u20051.2 hours) than controls (9.0\u2005\u00b1\u20050.0 hours). All participants had SpO2 &amp;gt;95% at T1 and T4. At T2, SpO2 dropped below 93% and 80% in 35% and 10% underground miners, respectively; SpO2 was still &amp;lt;93% at T3 in 13%. SpO2 remained stable among surface miners. Later, we showed that underground ambient oxygen levels decreased well below 21% in several pits.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>\n               <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Pulse oximetry revealed relevant hypoxaemia during underground work in a substantial proportion of artisanal miners. Such hypoxaemia without evidence of underlying cardiovascular disease is indicative of low ambient oxygen, due to insufficient mine ventilation. This may cause deaths from asphyxia. The hazards of low ambient oxygen in artisanal mines must be prevented by appropriate technical measures ensuring the supply of sufficient fresh air.<\/jats:p>\n               <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1093\/occmed\/kqae008","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,9]],"date-time":"2024-02-09T08:36:50Z","timestamp":1707467810000},"page":"178-185","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Hypoxaemia and risk of asphyxia during underground work in artisanal cobalt mines"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"74","author":[{"given":"P","family":"Musa Obadia","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e9 de Toxicologie et Environnement, Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"},{"name":"Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for Environment and Health, KU Leuven , 3000 Leuven , Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"J","family":"Pyana Kitenge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e9 de Toxicologie et Environnement, Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"},{"name":"Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for Environment and Health, KU Leuven , 3000 Leuven , Belgium"},{"name":"D\u00e9partement de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Facult\u00e9 de M\u00e9decine, Unit\u00e9 de Sant\u00e9 au travail et Sant\u00e9 environnementale, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"T","family":"Carsi Kuhangana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e9 de Toxicologie et Environnement, Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"},{"name":"Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for Environment and Health, KU Leuven , 3000 Leuven , Belgium"},{"name":"Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Kolwezi , Kolwezi , Democratic Republic of Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S","family":"Verpaele","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Belgian Center for Occupational Hygiene (BeCOH) , 9052 Zwijnaarde , Belgium"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A","family":"Ndala Nyongonyi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e9 de Toxicologie et Environnement, Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"T","family":"Kayembe Kitenge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e9 de Toxicologie et Environnement, Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"},{"name":"Institut Sup\u00e9rieur des Techniques M\u00e9dicales , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"P d M","family":"Katoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Tropical Diseases and Global Health, Universit\u00e9 Catholique de Bukavu , Bukavu , Democratic Republic of Congo"},{"name":"Expertise Centre on Mining Governance (CEGEMI) , Bukavu , Democratic Republic of Congo"},{"name":"Cochrane South Africa, Medical Council of South Africa , Cape Town 7505 , South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C","family":"Banza Lubaba Nkulu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit\u00e9 de Toxicologie et Environnement, Ecole de Sant\u00e9 Publique, Universit\u00e9 de Lubumbashi , Lubumbashi , Democratic Republic of Congo"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0571-4689","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"B","family":"Nemery","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health 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