Occupational Asthma Reference
Fishwick D, Barraclough R, Pickering T, Fletcher A, Lewis R, Niven R, Warburton CJ,
Comparison of various airflow measurements in symptomatic textile workers,
Occup Med,
2010;60:631-634,
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Keywords: cotton, textile, cross-shift FEV1, NSBR, Oasys, PEF
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Abstract
Aims
To investigate the poorly understood relationship between work-related respiratory symptoms, airway reactivity, across working shift change in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and work-related changes in serial peak expiratory flow (sPEF) measures in a group of textile workers.
Methods Fifty-three workers, 34 exposed to cotton dust and 19 to man-made fibre (MMF), were investigated using a standard respiratory questionnaire, sPEF, across-shift FEV1 measurement and airway responsiveness.
Results Thirty-four workers (64%) were male, and 9 workers (17%) had a >5% across-shift fall in FEV1, and these falls were associated with the presence of work-related symptoms. Seven workers had a positive sPEF chart as judged by the software analysis (OASYS), although there was no relationship between work-related symptoms and sPEF. Six cotton workers (18%) and one MMF worker (5%) had airway hyperreactivity, which was associated strongly with work-related symptoms. Five of the 7 subjects with a positive sPEF had airway hyperreactivity compared with 12 of 46 with a negative sPEF.
Conclusions In this worker group, the presence of work-related respiratory symptoms was best associated with airway hyperresponsiveness and across-shift changes in FEV1. While a positive sPEF chart was associated with increased airway responsiveness, it was not associated with work-related symptoms. sPEF measurements may not be the initial investigation of choice for such workers. As these findings also have relevance to developing evidence-based approaches to health surveillance, further work is needed to better define these relationships in other workers complaining of work-related respiratory symptoms.
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Comments
Oasys scores related less well to symptoms than cross-shift changes in FEV1 in this group of textile workers. The disease causing the symptoms was less clear
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