[Bronchopulmonary diseases in workers engaged in carbonyl production of nickel in the Kola Arctic].

The paper gives data on the prevalence and pattern of chronic bronchopulmonary diseases (CBPD) in 188 workers engaged in carbonyl production of nickel versus 162 auxiliary process workers. Chronic bronchitis was the most common disease in both groups (11.2 and 5.6%, respectively). 9.6% of the carbonyl production workers were found to have toxic pneumofibrosis developing mainly in those having a service length of more than 20 years. As compared with auxiliary process workers, the nickel production process workers had a higher risk of CBPD (odds ratio 1.80; 95% confidence interval 1.00-3.22; p = 0.04496) who also came to the front in the pattern of occupational diseases (73.2% of all cases).