Regional Occupational Health Centre (Eastern), ICMR Block-DP, Sector-V, 700 091, Salt Lake City, Kolkata, India,
Environ Health Prev Med. 2006 Jul;11(4):191-8. doi: 10.1007/BF02905278.
The aim of this study is to examine the effects of stone crushing in West Bengal, India, by comparing pulmonary functions of stone crushing workers with those of nonexposed agricultural workers.
Two hundred seventy two stone crushing workers and 123 nonexposed workers were analyzed in terms of occupational and personal histories, radiological findings, and pulmonary function test (PFT) results including slow vital capacity (FVC), forced vital capacity (FVC) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Different lung volumes i.e. FEV(1), FEV(1%), and flow rates i.e. FEF(200-1200ml), FEF(25-75%) and FEF(75-85%), were analyzed with regard to sex, smoking habit, work status, age and work duration.
Contrary to our expectations, the incidences of suspected (2.94%) and definite (1.84%) pneumoconioses were very low and the results of some PFT such as those for FVC and FEV(1%), in the exposed group were better than those in the nonexposed group, although a gradual decline the performance in PFT was observed with age and work duration. There was a higher prevalence of restrictive impairment among the exposed group and a higher prevalence of obstructive impairment in the nonexposed group.
Some of the results were unexpected. Possible reasons for these include (i) undetectable concentrations of free silica in the stone dust in the work environment of the exposed workers and (ii) factors, such as climate, in the work environment of the nonexposed agricultural workers that could cause pulmonary impairment. Further protective measures should be undertaken to prevent pulmonary impairment in both groups of workers.
本研究旨在通过比较印度西孟加拉邦采石工人和非暴露农业工人的肺功能，来研究采石作业的影响。
对 272 名采石工人和 123 名非暴露工人进行职业和个人史、影像学发现以及肺功能测试（PFT）结果分析，包括肺活量（FVC）、用力肺活量（FVC）和呼气峰流速（PEFR）。根据性别、吸烟习惯、工作状态、年龄和工作时间分析了不同的肺容积（FEV1、FEV1%和流量，如 FEF（200-1200ml）、FEF（25-75%）和 FEF（75-85%））。
与我们的预期相反，疑似（2.94%）和明确（1.84%）尘肺的发病率非常低，暴露组的一些 PFT 结果，如 FVC 和 FEV1%，优于非暴露组，尽管随着年龄和工作时间的增加，PFT 结果逐渐下降。暴露组中限制性损害的患病率较高，而非暴露组中阻塞性损害的患病率较高。
部分结果出乎意料。可能的原因包括：（i）暴露工人工作环境中的石尘中游离二氧化硅浓度无法检测；（ii）非暴露农业工人工作环境中的气候等因素可能导致肺损伤。应采取进一步的保护措施，以防止两组工人的肺损伤。
