Acute respiratory reactions to cotton dust in healthy non-textile workers.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Castellan, Robert M. ; Cocke JB ; Hankinson, John L.
• Description:
  Acute respiratory reactions to cotton dust were evaluated in healthy workers not from the textile industry. Volunteers from the general working public were selected in South Carolina. Each was given a standard respiratory questionnaire including occupational and smoking histories. Each was also tested by spirometry using waterless spirometers directly interfaced with oscilloscopes. Forced vital capacity (FVC) was determined. Flow/volume curves and corrected force expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) results were displayed as each forced expiratory maneuver was performed. Subjects with respiratory illness or deviations from the predicted were excluded. Subjects were exposed twice to cotton dust at about 1.0 milligram per cubic meter of air or twice to clean air, with at least 2 days between exposures. After 6 hours in exposure conditions, subjects repeated spirometry performed preexposure. Respiratory symptoms associated with cotton dust were experienced by 30 percent during the first dust exposure and 34 percent in the second. In the first exposure females had more symptoms than males and those over age 30 had more symptoms. Those with no prior cotton mill employment were more likely to have symptoms. In the second exposure only the reduction among prior mill workers remained statistically significant. In the clean air experiments only 0.7 and 0.5 percent of subjects had FEV1 decrement in the first and second exposures. In dust exposures, 8.6 and 12.5 percent, respectively had FEV1 decrements. Race was not significantly associated with ventilatory response, but chronic cigarette smoking was a significant risk factor for ventilatory reaction. A low baseline FEV1/FVC ratio was the most important risk factor associated with acute response. The authors conclude that the primary determinant in healthy non asthmatic subjects is the exposure itself. Environmental control should remain the mainstay by byssinosis prevention. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Irritants Lung Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Medical-research; Humans; Industrial-dusts; Airborne-fibers; Biological-effects; Lung-function; Respiratory-irritants; Lung-irritants; Physiological-measurements; Occupational-respiratory-disease; Control-methods
• ISBN:
  9780961340810
• Publisher:
  The National Cotton Council of America
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; Maine ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 6 ; South Carolina ; Tennessee
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  113-117
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00149233
• Citation:
  Cotton dust: proceedings of the Ninth Cotton Dust Research Conference, beltwide cotton research conferences, January 9-11, 1985, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Editor(s):
  Wakelyn PJ; Jacobs RR
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1985
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Cotton dust: proceedings of the Ninth Cotton Dust Research Conference, beltwide cotton research conferences, January 9-11, 1985, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/245713/cdc_245713_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]