Association Between Acute Inflammatory Cells in Lavage Fluid and Bronchial Metaplasia

Details

• Personal Author:
  Carter D ; Cullen MR ; Marenberg ME ; Merrill WW
• Description:
  In epidemiologic studies, airway disease and parenchymal injury are known morbid outcomes of occupational exposure to asbestos. However, the relationship of inflammatory events considered to be responsible for parenchymal injury to the subsequent development of airway injury is unknown. To assess this we performed bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and airway biopsies on a population of subjects with exposure to asbestos in the workplace. As an index of airway injury, we employed histologic metaplasia seen in mucosal biopsy specimens. Lung BAL fluid was analyzed for two potentially relevant protein markers and for inflammatory cells recovered from the lower respiratory tract. We related metaplasia to demographic features of this study population (eg, smoking history and asbestos exposure data) and also to the protein and cellular markers recovered by BAL. We studied 50 workers and detected keratinizing metaplasia in 15 and varying lesser abnormalities in the other 28. Cigarette smoking was not associated with the presence of metaplasia (p<0.2). Smoking status was associated with an increase in BAL cells (p<0.02); however, neither the percent nor concentration of acute inflammatory cells was significantly increased. Acute inflammatory cells (percent and cells per milliliter of BAL fluid) were significantly increased among the subjects with severe metaplasia compared with other study subjects. This increase was true of both neutrophils and eosinophils and the sum of these two (p<0.02). Stratification of subjects by smoking status demonstrated a persistent association of inflammatory cells with metaplasia. By logistic regression analysis, polymorphonuclear leukocytes per milliliter and eosinophils per milliliter were significantly related to the presence of metaplasia in two independent models (odds ratios, 9.9 and 7.6, respectively). Cigarette smoking and other demographic or BAL variables were not significantly associated with metaplasia in these models. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asbestos Immune System Inorganic Chemicals Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Smokers Tobacco Products
• Keywords:
  Cigarette Smoking Immune Reaction Occupational Exposure Respiratory Diseases
• ISSN:
  0012-3692
• 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
• Volume:
  102
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056729
• Citation:
  Chest 1992 Sep; 102(3):688-693
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Merrill, 111-A Medical Service, West Haven DVA Medical Center, West Haven, CT 06510
• CAS Registry Number:
  Asbestos (CAS RN 1332-21-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Performing Organization:
  Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19860101
• Source Full Name:
  Chest
• End Date:
  19931231
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8ebd03d40801b8ca9784771679e6e1194a3f2d5237bbf8c622cf9ee5a228fb8d4555f1f4a141fc2c95a72d8cce96de78d9e6423c8ff587902a76f72d39ba96a0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214280/cdc_214280_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.25 MB ]