Predictors of early leaving from the cotton spinning mill environment in newly hired workers

Abstract

Objective: This longitudinal study aimed to identify the predictors of leaving during the first year of employment from the cotton spinning mill environment in newly hired workers. Methods: One hundred and ninety eight consecutively appointed new employees were investigated by questionnaire, lung function test, and skin test. They were examined before employment and at the end of the 1st week, and the 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 12th month after starting work and when possible before leaving their job. 572 personal dust sampling and 191 endotoxin measurements were performed to assess the environmental exposure. For the univariate analysis x 2 , Student t tests, ANOVA, and Kruskall Wallis tests were used. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify factors associated with leaving the job. Results: Fifty three per cent of workers left the mill environment during their first working year. Work related lower respiratory tract symptoms reported at the third month were associated with an increase rate of leaving the industry compared to those remaining in the industry (25% v 4.8%; p,0.005). Having respiratory symptoms at the first month of work predicted those leaving the industry at some point in the next 11 months. According to the Cox model, increasing age and having work related lower respiratory tract symptoms were found to be predictors for leaving job at the first working year. Atopic status, dust and endotoxin levels, and lung function changes were not consistently predictive of workers who left the industry in the follow up period. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that work related respiratory symptoms can predict workers likely to leave the cotton mill environment during the first year of employment, but atopy or acute lung function changes do not.

Natural History and Risk Factors of Early Respiratory Responses to Exposure to Cotton Dust in Newly Exposed Workers

“…13 Of potential health predictors of leaving, only the presence of workrelated lower respiratory tract symptoms (WR-LRTS) at 3 months influenced leaving at any time point in the study. 4 The finding of our earlier analysis may be reflected against the finding in this study that this is the time of peak prevalence of LRTS. Significant effects at this time point may have occurred, because the greater prevalence influenced the power to demonstrate the effect.…”

“…One of the aims of this study was to examine this possibility, but as we have previously reported, we have not found evidence to support this theory. 4 In the current analysis, atopy did not have any predictive impact on the development of symptoms, acute airway responses, or lung function decline over the first 12 months. Atopy as a cause of chronic symptoms was not found in a study from the United Kingdom, 12 but has been reported to be associated with early lung function decline by other investigators.…”

“…We do not believe that this was caused by the healthy worker effect because our previous study showed no impact of acute responses on the individuals leaving the mill. 4 This again implies that there is the development of tolerance and it is perhaps a little too easy to suggest that this may be caused by developing tolerance to endotoxin exposure and has been seen in previous studies. 19 -21 …”

“…8 This study has suggested that these symptoms occur very early in the working life of people exposed to cotton spinning (even within the first week), and while they are a significant health problem we did not find that they influenced leaving the working environment. 4 The symptoms are related to the occupations with medium endotoxin exposure, but are correlated with increasing dust exposure. These occupations are the later processes such as spinning and winding, when endotoxin has been partially removed from cotton, but large particle fibers remain in abundance.…”

Garment industry in Lithuania: a study of self-reported dermatological problems

“…Sick leave appears to be frequent in textile industries (3). A turnover rate of employees in textile industry in some countries is higher compared with that of other industries (4).…”