SURVEY OF RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS, SPIROMETRY, AND RAST AND THEIR RELATION TO OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES AMONG DETERGENT PRODUCTS STAFF | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 39, Issue 2, July 2015, Page 231-241 PDF (203.65 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Study paper | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejom.2015.824 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| Ibraheem TM1; Momen M2; Mostafa NS2 | ||||
| 1Department of Chest | ||||
| 2Department of Community, Environmental & Occupational Medicine,Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Introduction: Respiratory disorders are one of the documented hazards affecting workers involved in the industry of washing products. Aim of Work: This study aims to assess the frequency of sensitization to enzymes in detergent industry. It also describes work-related respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function parameters among detergent workers in a detergent plant in Cairo, Egypt. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out on all plant workers, where Radioallergosorbent testing (RAST) positive subjects underwent further detailed history taking, clinical examination, x-ray and pulmonary function measurements. Results: Among 1329 workers, 9 % of them were sensitized using RAST. Of those, 56.8% reported chest complaints. The RAST grading of workers revealed that 39.2 % of workers were grade I, 24 % were grade II and 36.8 were grade III. It was found that 75.2% of them were exposed to hazardous materials during work. The majority of them reported exposure to dusts and powders (58.4 %). Pulmonary functions testing revealed that 52% showed restrictive lesions and 2.4 % obstructive lesions. The majority of workers who had obstructive and restrictive lesions were RAST grade III (66.7 % and 52.3 % respectively where P<0.001). By Comparing pulmonary functions of workers with dust exposure, it was evident that the majority of workers who had obstructive and restrictive lesions were exposed to dust within the workplace, 100 % and 83.1 % respectively (P<0.034). The study of pulmonary functions among different RAST grades revealed a statistically significant lowered mean of FVC, FVC percentage and FEV1 among grade III workers than other grades (P<0.001). Conclusion: Dust exposure in detergent producing plant has a negative impact on workers’ respiratory systems. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Detergent products; Occupational Exposure; RAST; respiratory; Spirometry | ||||
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