Prevalence of respiratory symptoms and disorders among rice mill workers in India

Abstract

Objectives Lung function tests have become an integral part of assessment of pulmonary disease. Diseases of the respiratory system induced by occupational dusts are influenced by the duration of exposure. The aim of the study is to investigate the impairment of lung function and prevalence of respiratory symptoms among the rice mill workers. Methods A total of 120 rice mill workers from three districts of Karnataka were included in this study. Fifty urban dwellers from the same socio-economic level were selected as controls. The study included clinical examination, assessment of respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function test, measurement of peak expiratory flow rate, absolute eosinophil count, ESR estimation, total IgE estimation and radiographic test. Results The present study has shown that the rice mill workers complained of several types of respiratory disorders like phlegm (40.8 %), dyspnea (44.2 %), chest tightness (26.7 %), cough (21.7 %), and nose irritation (27.5 %). Rice mill workers exposed to dust presented significantly (p \ 0.05) lower levels of FVC (3.44 ± 0.11), FEV 1 (2.73 ± 0.15) and PEFR (304.95 ± 28.79) than the controls. The rice mill workers are having significantly higher absolute eosinophil counts, total IgE and ESR than control groups. The hematological findings suggest that the harmful effects may be linked to both non-specific irritation and allergic responses to rice husk dust among rice mill workers. Conclusion Dust exposure in the working environment affects the lung function values and increased the respiratory symptoms among the rice mill workers.

Emission Level of PM2.5 and its Association With Chronic Respiratory Symptoms Among Workers in Cement Industry: A Case of Mugher Cement Industry, Central Ethiopia

“…Todays, occupational health and safety standards are emphasized to focus on the prevention and control of respiratory diseases in Ethiopia (1). This finding was in line with a study from India (12) and lower by 15% and 12% when compared to the studies from North Shoa (29) and Dejen (17), respectively. This variation may be due to the difference in study population in that previous studies only considered those working in cement milling and clinker units, while we included workers from all working units.…”

“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the recommended stringent standard for PM 2.5 should be less than 25 μg/m 3 /d (10) and PM 2.5 concentration levels in cement plants are much higher than the existing standard (5,11), with a very high concentration of PM 2.5 in crusher and packing units compared to administrative and management areas (12). The world communities, especially the people in developing countries are faced with the increasing risks of respiratory diseases due to the generation of smoke and dust in different industrial sectors by the use of outdated machines (13)(14)(15).…”

Association of respiratory morbidity with duration of work among puffed rice workers in Davanagere city, Karnataka, India

“…Similar results were found by a case study done by the Energy Research Institute, Bangalore at Davanagere city which showed that majority of the workers possessed restrictive pattern of lung diseases and Tawade et al 3,15 In contrast to this study a study done by Rana et al, Ghosh et al showed that majority of the workers in their study were reported to have obstructive pattern of respiratory diseases. 7,9 In this study the risk of obstructive lung disease was 0.18 (0.03-1.40) times less among workers who worked for less than 5 years compared to workers who work more than 20 years and the association was not statistically significant with p value 0.055. The risk of restrictive lung disease was 0.35 (CI 0.16-0.77) times low among workers worked for less than 5 years compared to workers who worked more than 20 years and the association was statistically significant with p-value was 0.010.…”

Prevalence of respiratory symptoms and spirometric changes among non-smoker male wood workers

“…Occupational lung diseases are caused by pathologic responses of the airway to the working environment, leading to a substantial social and economic burden worldwide. In addition to particle material, duration of exposure is an important factor determining host immune system response [12]. Experience has indicated that inflammatory response in the respiratory system can result in persistent symptomatic respiratory illnesses.…”