Dose-Response Relationships Between Occupational Aerosol Exposures and Cross-Shift Declines of Lung Function in Poultry Workers: Recommendations for Exposure Limits

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cumro D ; Donham KJ ; Merchant, James A. ; Reynolds SJ
• Description:
  Numerous articles have been published regarding the adverse respiratory health consequences of working in intensive livestock and poultry housing. Threshold limit exposure guidelines are not currently applied to this environment, but they are essential to implement and monitor effective environmental controls. Previous dose-response research work with swine workers has resulted in exposure limit recommendations of 2.5 mg/m(3) total dust, 0.23 mg/m(3) respirable dust, 100 EU/m(3) endotoxin, and 7 ppm ammonia. No similar recommendations have been reported previously for poultry workers. Therefore, an industry-wide study was conducted to examine dose-response relationships of bioaerosol exposures and worker respiratory health. A total of 257 poultry workers were studied for respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function, and exposure to dust (total and respirable), endotoxin (respirable and total), and ammonia. Details of the sampling plan and environmental assessment are described elsewhere. Relationships between exposures and response were studied by correlation and multiple regressions. Significant dose-response relationships were observed between exposures and pulmonary function decrements over a work shift. Exposure concentrations associated with significant pulmonary function decrements were as follows: 2.4 mg/m(3) total dust, 0.16 mg/m(3) respirable dust, 614 EU/m(3) endotoxin, and 12 ppm ammonia. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Dust Environmental Exposure Environmental Health Environmental Pollution Irritants Lung Lung Diseases Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Function Tests Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-processes Agricultural-workers Dust-analysis Dust-collection Dust-counting Dust-exposure Dust-inhalation Dust-measurement Dust-particles Dust-sampling Dusts Environmental-contamination Environmental-exposure Environmental-factors Particle-aerodynamics Particle-counters Particulate-dust Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-function-tests Pulmonary-system Pulmonary-system-disorders Respirable-dust Respiration Respiratory-function-tests Respiratory-irritants Work-areas Work-environment Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  District of Columbia ; Iowa ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OD - Office of the Director
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  260-269
• Volume:
  42
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032752
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2000 Mar; 42(3):260-269
• Contact Point Address:
  KJ Donham, University of Iowa, Department of Preventive Medicint & Environmental Health, 100 Oakdale Campus 124 IREH, Iowa City, IA 52242
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2000
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:27e435a3923b954d3392a73d93ca732f06b5ddb45f16c39b9741df5b0aa9023bff3619102b0300ebb2c94d4f6dc38a81d93c6a03a7359da600c7fbfde42adfb7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186606/cdc_186606_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 430.67 KB ]