Prevalence of respiratory symptoms and lung function parameters by survey, exposure status and job tasks
| First survey (2012) | Second survey (2014) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exposed (n=588) | Unexposed (n=497) | p Value | Exposed (n=205) | Unexposed (n=177) | p Value | |||||
| Respiratory symptoms | n | Per cent | n | Per cent | n | Per cent | n | Per cent | ||
| Chronic cough | 36 | 6.0 | 12 | 2.40 | <0.05** | 26 | 12.60 | 7 | 3.90 | <0.05** |
| Chronic phlegm | 9 | 1.5 | 4 | 1.00 | 0.28 | 12 | 5.80 | 4 | 2.20 | 0.07 |
| Wheezing | 13 | 2.2 | 5 | 1.00 | 0.13 | 26 | 12.60 | 15 | 8.30 | 0.17 |
| Shortness of breath | 35 | 5.8 | 7 | 1.40 | <0.05*** | 58 | 28.20 | 22 | 12.20 | <0.05** |
| Exposed applicators (n=103)† | Unexposed (n=102)† | |||||||||
| Lung function (male) | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | – | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | p Value |
| FVC (L) | – | – | – | – | – | 4.25 | 0.63 | 4.31 | 0.59 | 0.47 |
| FEV1 (L) | – | – | – | – | – | 3.51 | 0.56 | 3.67 | 0.50 | <0.05* |
| FEF 25%–75% (L/s) | – | – | – | – | – | 3.94 | 1.26 | 4.52 | 1.17 | <0.05*** |
| n | Per cent | n | Per cent | |||||||
| FEV1/FVC <0.8 | – | – | – | – | – | 38 | 30.16 | 9 | 8.04 | <0.05*** |
| Lung function (female) | Exposed re-entry workers (n=56) | Unexposed (n=55) | p Value | |||||||
| FVC (L) | – | – | – | – | – | 3.15 | 0.49 | 3.27 | 0.43 | 0.22 |
| FEV1 (L) | – | – | – | – | – | 2.63 | 0.45 | 2.79 | 0.37 | <0.05* |
| FEF 25%–75% (L/s) | – | – | – | – | – | 3.06 | 0.89 | 3.56 | 0.89 | <0.05** |
| – | – | – | – | – | n | Per cent | n | Per cent | ||
| FEV1/FVC<0.8 | – | – | – | – | – | 16 | 25.81 | 8 | 13.33 | 0.10 |
*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.
†Fewer individuals entered in the lung function analyses than for respiratory symptoms in stage 2 due to stringent quality control of the spirometric data.
FEF, forced expiratory flow.