Epidemiology of chronic lung disease in a cotton mill community.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Beck GJ ; Bouhuys A ; Schilling RS ; Schoenberg JB
• Description:
  Chronic lung disease was studied among cotton textile workers. White male and female cotton workers, aged 45 and older, were questioned about respiratory symptoms. The duration of employment was recorded. Retired workers were included in the study population and all were identified by occupation as carders, spinners, yarn preparers, weavers, or employed in other jobs. A comparison group was taken from white residents of towns without cotton mills after excluding those with respiratory symptoms. Maximum expiratory flow volume curves were recorded for subjects and comparisons. Smoking habits were determined for all. Textile workers of both sexes, irrespective of age, had excess chronic cough, wheezing, dyspnea and other symptoms when compared with the references group. Symptom prevalence did not differ significantly between job categories. Smoking was an additional significant variable for all symptoms except dyspnea. There were observed decrements of lung function among the textile workers. The excess risk of loss of lung function was seen in workers in yarn preparing, weaving, carding, and spinning, but not in the other more dust free jobs. In all smoking categories textile workers had more impaired lung function than comparisons. Retired men has a significantly greater loss of lung function than those still working. The authors conclude that cotton workers are at risk of having chronic respiratory symptoms and lung function loss as well as the acute symptoms identified as byssinosis. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Inhalation Exposure Lung Occupational Health Respiratory System Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Air-sampling Analytical-models Emission-sources Inhalants Lung-function NIOSH-Grant Quantitative-analysis Respiration Workplace-studies
• ISSN:
  0341-2040
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  167-186
• Volume:
  154
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00155571
• Citation:
  Lung 1976 Dec; 154(1):167-186
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1977
• Performing Organization:
  John B Pierce Fdn Lab 290 Congress Avenue New Haven, Conn 06519
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19700901
• Source Full Name:
  Lung
• End Date:
  19770630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0ef73b1385388d6b3cbdb6526cdf907164e401f8b8698e5a1e26bea08948b1f3b8a3f073e84e61a45b51588badbb5a4520447f391704d56d8f62e5ca12fdf30e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/184927/cdc_184927_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.06 MB ]