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Respiratory impairments due to dust exposure: A comparative study among workers exposed to silica, asbestos, and coalmine dust
Author(s) -
Wang Xiaorong,
Yano Eiji,
aka Koichi,
Wang Mianzheng,
Wang Zhiming
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199705)31:5<495::aid-ajim2>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - medicine , asbestos , environmental health , occupational exposure , pneumoconiosis , respiratory system , mineral dust , silicosis , occupational safety and health , pathology , metallurgy , materials science , physics , aerosol , meteorology
We conducted a comparative study of pulmonary dysfunction among workers who were exposed to silica, asbestos, or coalmine dust. The results showed that all three groups of dust‐exposed workers, even those without radiographic signs of pneumoconiosis, had decreased spirometric parameters and diffusing capacity (DLco) in both nonsmokers and smokers. Pulmonary function was further decreased when pneumoconioses were present in the three groups. In accord with increasing radiographic categories, pulmonary function in the workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP), it changed relatively little. Workers with mild to moderate (radiographic category I–II) silicosis or asbestosis showed similarly decreased DLco, but those with silicosis showed lower FEV 1 /FVC than those with asbestosis. The workers with CWP also showed a lower FEV 1 /FVC than those with asbestosis. The major impairment patterns for silica workers, asbestos workers, and coal miners were mixed, restrictive and mixed, and obstructive, respectively. Smoking obviously increased the prevalence of obstruction for all the groups. We conclude from the present study that all the three dusts cause functional abnormalities that precede radiographic changes of pneumoconiosis. We should pay more attention to respiratory impairment in the initial stage of silicosis and CWP. Am. J. Ind. Med. 31:495–502, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.