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Occupational exposures and longitudinal lung function decline
Author(s) -
Liao ShuYi,
Lin Xihong,
Christiani David C.
Publication year - 2015
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/ajim.22389
Subject(s) - medicine , lung function , occupational exposure , environmental health , lung
Background Few longitudinal studies have been conducted on occupational exposure and lung function. This study investigated occupational dust exposure effects on lung function and whether genetic variants influence such effects. Methods The study population (1,332 participants) was from the Framingham Heart Study, in which participant lung function measures were available from up to five examinations over nearly 17 years. Occupational dust exposures were classified into “more” and “less” likely dust exposure. We used linear mixed effects models for the analysis. Results Participants with more likely dust exposure had a mean 4.5 mL/year excess loss rate of FEV 1 over time. However, occupational dust exposures alone or interactions with age or time had no significant effect on FEV 1 /FVC. No statistically significant effects of genetic modifications in the different subgroups were identified for FEV 1 loss. Conclusions Occupational dust exposures may accelerate the rate of FEV 1 loss but not FEV 1 /FVC loss. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:14–20, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.