Respiratory Symptoms, Pulmonary Function and The Role of Interlukin-1Β in The Inflammatory Reaction among Workers at a Cement Factory in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Background: Cement workers are exposed to various workplace factors that may affect their health. These health effects depend on the duration, level of exposure and individual sensitivity. Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the effect of exposure to cement dust on lung function of workers in a national cement production factory at North Cairo and to identify the possible association between such findings and interlukin-1β in addition to personal and work-related factors. Method: It included 96 workers from different departments of cement factory (exposed group) and 100 workers group from an Egyptian public institution (control group). Data collected included personal data, occupational and medical history, clinical chest examination and body mass index. Pulmonary function tests were performed to suspected 60 subjects from the exposed group and all subjects from the control group. Interleukin-1β, liver function tests and kidney function tests were measured in 67 exposed workers who agree to provide a blood sample. Results showed that cement workers and controls were matched for age, gender and smoking status. Chronic cough and expectoration were significantly higher among the exposed group. Moreover, the percentage of cement workers with reduced FEV1, FVC was significantly higher than control group. The mean work duration of the exposed group was 24 years, small percentage of workers reported wearing personal protective devices as none reported they were informed about possible hazardous exposures before starting work. Most of the participants had normal interleukin levels and normal liver and kidney function tests. However, 8.8% of cement workers have elevated serum creatinine, 23.5% have elevated blood urea nitrogen, 13.2% have elevated serum ALT and 19.1% have elevated serum AST. The current study showed a significant higher proportion of cement workers with reduced FEV1/FVC among those working for ≥ 20 years duration compared to workers with those working for < 20 years duration.

Consequences of cement dust exposure on pulmonary function in cement factory workers

“…The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was significantly higher among workers than the controls. These findings are in agreement with the observations of Mwaiselage et al, 14 Zeleke et al, 4 Al-Neaimi et al, 13 Hakim et al, 28 Aminian et al, 30 and Nkhama et al 31 This may be attributed to the high concentration of cement dust the workers encounter at their jobs.…”

“…The workers in our study were subjects working in milling or packaging sections and directly exposed to cement dust, whereas the controls were healthy volunteers working away from cement factories. It was comparable to studies conducted in Palestine 22 and Egypt, 28 but different from those conducted in Iran. 26,27,29 In the latter, both workers and controls were from the same factory; the control group consisted of subjects working in the factory offices or other departments, and the workers were those subjects directly exposed to dust.…”