Respiratory Disorders, Skin Complaints, and Low-Back Trouble Among Tannery Workers in Kanpur, India

Abstract

In a cross-sectional survey health complaints among 418 laborers in 15 Indian tanneries were studied. Low-back pain (61%), asthma (38%), dermatitis (23%), and chronic bronchitis (14%) were the most frequently reported complaints in the 12 months prior to the survey. In general, beamhouse workers reported the highest prevalence but only chronic low-back pain was significantly elevated compared with workers in the finishing departments. When using individual exposure estimates, clear associations were presented among manual lifting over 20 kg and low-back pain (OR = 3.5) and skin exposure and dermatitis (OR = 2.6). Frequent lifting of loads was also associated with self-reported asthma. About 44% of the laborers reported at least one period of sickness absence, and 17% were involved in a serious occupational accident that required a visit to the local physician. Logistic regression analysis showed that sickness absence occurred more often in small tanneries (OR = 2.7) and also was significantly associated with low-back pain (OR = 3.3) and occupational accidents (OR = 2.2). This epidemiologic survey on health complaints in tannery workers is among the few in occupational populations in low-income countries. For many reasons these populations are easily overlooked. The results of this descriptive study indicate that there is a clear need for epidemiologic surveys in these countries to obtain information on working conditions and associated health problems.

Inventory of the chemicals and the exposure of the workers’ skin to these at two leather factories in Indonesia

“…The point-prevalence in our study was lower than the reported point-prevalence of the 23% in a cross-sectional survey among 485 tannery workers in India (Ory et al 1997) and 26% in Korean tannery workers (Lee et al 1991). Lee et al (1991) performed a dermatological examination in 310 tannery workers with a prevalence of contact dermatitis of 26.4%.…”

“…The wide range of reported prevalence figures for OSD among tannery workers in newly industrialized countries (between 2.6 and 26.4%) is probably caused by the differences in the definition of cases, period of screening and data collecting (Kvitko 2001; Rastogi et al 2008; Shukla et al 1991; Ory et al 1997). Differences in the working conditions may also cause the wide range of reported point-prevalence.…”

Occupational factors and low back pain: a cross-sectional study of Bangladeshi female nurses

“…LBP is one of the leading public health problems with over 80% of the world population reporting LBP at some point in their life [3]. The prevalence of LBP is high especially in low and middle-income countries [4–6]. …”

“…Nurses in developing countries have a higher incidence of occupation-related back pain due to lack of equipment and designs of work [4–6]. The intensity of LBP has rarely been taken into consideration in Bangladesh.…”

The Evaluation of Microbial Contamination in the Working Environment of Tanneries

“…There have been reports concerning various health problems among workers in tanneries. In the study carried out by Ory et al (14) the health complaints among 418 labourers in 15 Indian tanneries were tested. Asthma (38%), dermatitis (23%) and chronic bronchitis (14%) were the most frequently reported complaints in the 12 months prior to the survey.…”