| Abstract |
The effects of smoke inhalation on pulmonary function have been investigated mainly on fire fighters. Smoke particulate may cause acute pulmonary injury, airway obstruction and chronic loss of pulmonary function among fire fighters. Open charcoal production is a rare traditional, part time, job still existing in certain rural areas of Greece. During this procedure of charcoal production the subjects are exposed to incomplete combustion of wood firing and other noxious gases. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of smoke inhalation on function of charcoal workers in the island of Crete. Twenty-two male current workers (12 smokers and 10 non smokers), aged 41+15.5 years (x+SD), 34 ex-workers aged 59,5+14,9 years and 35 male as control group, aged 46,2+20,2 years, were studied. A respiratory and an occupational questionnaire were completed. Physical examination was performed before and during the exposure period. Pulmonary function tests were performed by a spirometer (Flowmate, Jeager) before and during exposure period. FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, MMFR were calculated and expressed as % of predicted values. PEFR were performed by a mini flow meter (Vitolagrph) three times daily (morning, noon, afternoon) for a period of ten days before and during exposure. The PEFR measurements expressed as % of the best effort of each subject. The spirometry as well as the PEFR measurements before and during exposure were compared by the student t-test. Finally we compared them with 34 male ex-workers and 35 male of the control group. The average exposion time for workers and ex-workers was 14,32 + 9,94 years and 20,8 + 16,7 years respectively. Charcoal workers were found to have significantly more cough (OR=4.8; 0.9-10.9), sputum production (OR=6; 1.4-26.5), wheezing (OR=7.7; 1.4-41.5), dyspnea (OR=28.7; 5.4-153) and heamoptysis (OR=12.7; 0.7-55) than control group. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms, such as cough, sputum production, wheezing and dyspnea in charcoal workers was significantly elevated during the exposure period (OR=5.4; 1.1-17.7, OR=5.7;1-31, OR=9.8; 1-88 and OR=36.7; 1-327, respectively). Mean value (x*SD) of measured spirometry indices, during exposure period were significantly lower than those before exposure. FVC, 106*10.8 vs. 101*11.9, p<0.01, FEV1104*16 vs. 97*15, p<0.001, FEV1/FVC 81*9 vs. 78*8, p<0.001 and FEF25-75 95*27 vs. 80*25, p<0.01. The mean value (x*SD) of PEF at noon and at evening during the exposure were significantly lower than before exposure (524*131 vs. 548*108, p=0.03 and 521*135 vs. 547*131, p=0.02, respectively). Our results suggest that woodsmoke exposure in charcoal workers is associated with increased respiratory symptoms and decreased pulmonary function. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine potential chronic adverse respiratory effects. Conclusion The findings indicate that the exposure to the smoke of the incomplete combustion during charcoal production is associated with short dated effects to the respiratory system of the charcoal producer with higher prevalence of the respiratory symptoms and negative affects to the respiratory capacity.
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| Subject |
woodsmoke, charcoal production, obstructive airway disease, occupational exposure, spirometry, PEF, cough, sputum, wheezing, dyspnea |
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