Occupational impact of increased dust duration on pulmonary capacities of workers

Abstract

Subroto Shambhu Nandi, Shweta Rameshprasad Gupta, Sarang Vilas Dhatrak

Aim: Occupational lung diseases are usually caused due to chronic exposure to dust or irritating toxic substance. In India, morbidity due to occupational lung diseases has been reported to be high. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the impact of long-term occupational barytes dust exposure on pulmonary capacities of workers.Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 332 participants within the age group of 22–60 years in 2013. The Data regarding demographic, behavioural and occupational characteristics were collected by pre-designed questionnaire. Spirometry is an important tool for the detection of pulmonary diseases in its earlier stages. Pulmonary functions were assessed by Schiller spirometry in 240 surface mine exposed workers who engaged in direct mining activities and 92 age matched healthy administrative staff workers as non exposed workers.Results: It was observed that 15.8% of exposed workers had restrictive pulmonary impairment as compared to 6.5% among nonexposed workers, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the difference between the mean val-ues of forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) among the studied groups was statistically significant (p < 0.01). It was also observed that as the duration of exposure increases, the pulmonary function decreases. This decrease in pulmonary function was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Pearson’s correlation r val-ues indicated a poor correlation between the duration of dust exposure and pulmonary function of studied workers.Conclusion: The study emphasizes the need for regular monitoring of the dust levels and awareness about the importance of personal protective devices among the workers to mitigate respiratory morbidity.