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Abstract
The preponderance of young adult males with the diagnosis of idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax in comparison to the number occurring in females, and the reported wide geographic variations in the incidence of this disease have not been explained.
This study explores the possibility that the inhalation of acidic soot emanating from the smoke stacks of some campus-operated power plants may be one cause of the geographic differences. The male-female differences may also result from the fact that the inhalation of such acidic carbon particulates is maximized during strenuous outdoor competitive physical activities in which males are much more frequently engaged than are their female peers.
A mail survey of the incidence of idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax was conducted among the student health services of a number of colleges and universities belonging to the American College Health Association. A subsequent questionnaire regarding the type of fuel used in the school power plants was then sent to those schools that had submitted adequate student health service data.
A significant association was found between oil- and coal-fueled power plants and the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax in college students.