Respiratory Symptoms and Pulmonary Functions in TextileMills

Overview

The authors examined within the framework of a crosse-sectional epidemiological study 157 workers in a textile mill workingmainly with flax yarn. The objective was to assess the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and level of pulmonary function withregard to the general dustiness and microbiological characteristics of the atmosphere. On examination an anamnestic respiratoryquestionnaire was used based on the questionaire of the British Research Council supplemented by questions concerning workingproblems and identification of byssinosis. All workers were subjected to a basic spirometric examination. All-shift dust concentra-tionsvaried between 1.5 to 5.9 mg/m3, the mean number of microbes per 1 m3 of the atmosphere was 1994 colonies wherebyconditioned pathogens of the genus Nocardia, Aspergillus, Alternaria and Mucor were detected. At least one symptom associatedwith the occupation was reported by 26% of the examined subjects, symptoms of rhinitis and cough dominated. Byssinoticcomplaints were reported by 3.2% subjects. Chronic bronchitis (according to WHO) was recorded in 17.8% of the examinedsubjects, whereby it was significantly more frequent in smokers. Respiratory symptoms were significantly more frequent in theinvestigated group than in controls formed by a group of workers from an electroengineering plant. The mean values of theinvestigated ventilation parameters were within the normal range, their level correlated with smoking habits. With regard to thefrequent incidence of respiratory symptoms even in an environment where hygienic limits for dustiness were not markedly trespassedtheir shift to lower values seems indicated.

Key words:
textile, textile workers, respiratory symptoms, byssinosis