A Ten-Year Follow-up Study of Cotton Textile Workers

Abstract

A follow-up study of respiratory function in cotton textile workers was performed 10 yr after the original cross-sectional study (1975 to 1985). There were 35 nonsmoking female and 31 smoking male textile workers restudied from the original group of 116. The majority of those lost to follow-up had left the industry. The prevalence of byssinosis among the female workers at the time of follow-up was 15/35 (42.9%) compared with 8/35 (22.9%) at the time of the initial study (p = 0.063). For men the byssinosis prevalence at follow-up was 16/31 (51.6%) compared with 8/31 (22.9%) at the time of the initial study (p = 0.03). Similarly, the prevalence of almost all other respiratory symptoms was significantly higher at the follow-up than at the time of the initial study. Significant across-shift decrements in FEV1 and FVC were documented at both surveys. The mean annual decline in ventilatory capacity was greater than expected for both female (FVC: -0.036 +/- 0.005 L/yr; FEV1: -0.059 +/- 0.009 L/yr) and male workers (FVC: -0.059 +/- 0.008 L/yr; FEV1: -0.068 +/- 0.006 L/yr) (Mean +/- SE). The mean total airborne dust concentration measured at the time of the follow-up study was 3.95 mg/m3 with an average respirable dust concentration of 0.97 mg/m3. We conclude that continued exposure to high dust concentrations in the cotton textile industry is associated with an increasing prevalence of respiratory symptoms and progressive impairment of lung function. The increase in respiratory impairment was seen both in smokers and nonsmokers.

A 20-year follow-up study on chronic respiratory effects of exposure to cotton dust

“…The result was consistent with that observed in male grain workers, in which annual losses in FEV1 were 28.7 mL for nonsmokers, and 41.7 mL for current smokers [13]. Overall, the data provide further supportive evidence for the chronic effects of exposure to cotton dust, which has been suggested by the current authors' previous observations [8,9] and by other cohort studies [4,5].…”

“…However, the magnitude of chronic airway disease after long-term exposure to cotton dust remains unclear. Several studies have indicated that longterm exposure may lead to chronic respiratory disease [1][2][3] and excessive loss of lung function [4,5], whereas others have not [6,7]. Due to a scarcity of longitudinally collected data, some important questions remain unresolved.…”

Healthy worker effect in cohort studies on chronic bronchitis

“…Eight studies reporting the prevalence of chronic bronchitis at the beginning of the study were thus included in this analysis (8,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Two studies (8,20) provided separate prevalences for the men and women in the cohort, one other study presented separate prevalences for smokers and nonsmokers (21).…”

“…Two studies (8,20) provided separate prevalences for the men and women in the cohort, one other study presented separate prevalences for smokers and nonsmokers (21). These groups were considered independently of each other.…”

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Never-Smoking Female Workers Exposed to Cotton Dust

“…may lead to lung function impairment independently of any effect due to smoking [34]. A few longitudinal studies indicated accelerated annual decline of FEV1 independent of smoking in workers exposed to wood dust [35,36], cotton dust in textile workers [37,38], grain dust in grain handlers [39] and to organic dust, ammonia and endotoxin in swine http://www.mjms.mk/ http://www.id-press.eu/mjms/ production workers (40). We performed bronchodilator reversibility testing in order to detect subjects with the presence of a post-bronchodilator FEV 1 /FVC less than 0.70, i.e., to establish the diagnosis of COPD.…”