Epidemiological study of the lung function of workers at a factory manufacturing polyvinylchloride.

Abstract

A preliminary epidemiological study has been carried out to investigate a report that some men working in a factory manufacturing polyvinylchloride (PVC) had abnormally low values of the single breath diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (TLCO). All monoxide (TLCO). All 265 present and past employees of the PVC factory were studied, together with 219 men from the workforce of a nearby foundry. Each man's TLCO was measured and a smoking history and detailed occupational history obtained. The distribution of standardised TLCO results from all persons examined was symmetrical and did not indicate an unexpectedly high proportion of men with having allowed for age, height, weight, and smoking habit, TLCO was associated with a history of working in the PVC factory before 1975 (when levels of vinylchloride monomers (VCM) were much higher than subsequently), and slightly associated with working in jobs where exposure to VCM was likely to have been highest. The men with low TLCO also tended to have smoked more heavily than controls. The relative importance of occupational factors and smoking in relation to low TLCO is not clear, but the results give some support to the hypothesis that work in the PVC factory before 1975 entailed exposure to a substance that caused impairment of lung function in a small number of men.

Effects of exposure to vinyl chloride. An assessment of the evidence.

“…Two other possibilities have, however, been raised, namely, the production of nonmalignant respiratory disease, because of the changes in lung function and radiographic appearances that have been recorded for men exposed to PVC dust (2,26,27,44), and acute cardiac death, from analogy with the effect of other halogenated hydrocarbons (25) and the observation of an increased mortality from myocardial infarction in the few years following the cessation of exposure in the Swedish PVC processing industry (35). Relevant figures for the numbers of deaths from these and other nonmalignant causes that are obtainable from the four principal studies were given in table 2, and they have been summarized in table 7.…”

A mortality study of vinyl chloride monomer workers employed in the United Kingdom in 1940-1974.

“…Pos sible health effects of PVC dust have been the subject of a number of studies (2,15,16,21,26), although some doubt remain s as to whether the recorded changes in lun g function and radiographic app earance are indi cativ e of any increa se in respiratory disease.…”

Pulmonary manifestations of polyvinyl chloride exposure

“…1970'li yıllarda özellikle plastik sektöründeki gelişmeler sonucunda vinil klorür (VC) ve polivinil klorür (PVC) maruziyetiyle oluşan hastalıklar tanımlanmaya başlan-mış ve VC'nin karaciğer üzerine yan etkileri, portal hipertansiyona yol açışı, periferal dolaşım bozukluklarına ve anjiyosarkom gibi malignitelere neden olduğu gös-terilmiştir (1,2). Ancak, PVC maruziyetinin pulmoner sistem üzerine etkileri hakkında kısıtlı bilgi mevcuttur (2,3).…”

“…Ancak, PVC maruziyetinin pulmoner sistem üzerine etkileri hakkında kısıtlı bilgi mevcuttur (2,3). Konu hakkında yayınlanmış bir ulusal çalışma ise yoktur.…”