Occupational Asthma Reference

Senanayake N, Gurunathan G, Hart TB, Amerasinghe P, Babapulle M, Ellapola SB, Udupihille M, Basanayake V, An epidemiological study of the health of Sri Lankan tea plantation workers associated with long term exposure to paraquat. case control, Br J Ind Med, 1993;50:257-263,

Keywords: malaysia, paraquat, rubber plantation, Sri Lanka, FEV1, epidemiology

Known Authors

If you would like to become a known author and have your picture displayed along with your papers then please get in touch from the contact page. Known authors can choose to receive emails when their papers receive comments.

Abstract

Pulmonary function tests (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC%, TLCO, single breath CO diffusion), chest x ray film, renal function (serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen), liver function (serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transferase, and alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, total protein, and albumin), a haematological screen (haemoglobin and packed cell volume), and a general clinical examination were performed on 85 paraquat spraymen (mean spraying time 12 years) and on two control groups (76 factory workers and 79 general workers) frequency matched for age and years of occupational service. All the subjects were men. There were no clinically important differences in any of the measurements made between the study group and the two control groups. In particular the results of the lung function tests, appropriate for paraquat toxicity of the study group, were similar to those of the control groups. The same was true of blood tests for liver and kidney function. The incidence of skin damage, nose bleeds, and nail damage in the study group was slightly higher than in the control groups but lower than the incidence reported for paraquat workers in previous studies. The results of this study confirmed that long term spraying of paraquat, at the concentrations used, produced no adverse health effects, in particular no lung damage, attributable to the occupational use of the herbicide.

Full Text

Full text of this reference not available

Please Log In or Register to add the full text to this reference

Comments

Please sign in or register to add your thoughts.


Oasys and occupational asthma smoke logo