Omidianidost Ali, Gharavandi Sasan, Azari Mansour R, Hashemian Amir Hossein, Ghasemkhani Mehdi, Rajati Fatemeh, Jabari Mehdi
Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Tanaffos. 2019 Feb;18(2):157-162.
Although the main hazard in cement processing is dust, and its effects on pulmonary function constitute the most important group of occupational diseases in this industry, evidence for association between exposure to cement dust and pulmonary function has not been conclusive. This study was performed with the aim to evaluate the impact of cement dust in the workplace on decreasing pulmonary function parameters among the workers.
In this cross-sectional study 283 workers were studied, of which 140 workers were considered as exposed group and 143 workers as non-exposed group. Fifty samples of respirable dust were collected from breathing zone of workers in different sections of cement factory. Visible absorption spectrophotometry was used according to the NIOSH Method 7601 to measure crystalline silica content of reparable dust samples. Spirometry test was also applied to assess workers' pulmonary function parameters.
Respirable dust concentration was in the range of 1.77 to 6.12 mg/m. The concentration of crystalline silica in all units was higher than the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) (0.025 mg / m). There were a significant difference in the Peak Expiratory Flow (PEF) parameter among workers in the two exposed and non-exposed groups to respirable dust (P= 0.017). In other parameters of pulmonary function (FVC, FEV, FEF , FEV/FVC %), there were no significant differences between the two groups under study (P= 0.45, P= 0.14, P= 0.29 and P= 0.23, respectively).
The findings of this study have provided an evidence to confirm the hypothesis that exposure to cement dust can cause complication in PEF parameter of cement industry workers.
尽管水泥加工过程中的主要危害是粉尘，且其对肺功能的影响构成了该行业最重要的一组职业病，但接触水泥粉尘与肺功能之间关联的证据尚无定论。本研究旨在评估工作场所的水泥粉尘对工人肺功能参数下降的影响。
在这项横断面研究中，对283名工人进行了研究，其中140名工人被视为暴露组，143名工人为非暴露组。从水泥厂不同区域工人的呼吸带采集了50份可吸入粉尘样本。根据美国国家职业安全与健康研究所（NIOSH）方法7601，采用可见吸收分光光度法测量可吸入粉尘样本中的结晶硅含量。还应用肺量计测试来评估工人的肺功能参数。
可吸入粉尘浓度在1.77至6.12毫克/立方米范围内。所有单位的结晶硅浓度均高于阈限值（TLV）（0.025毫克/立方米）。在可吸入粉尘暴露组和非暴露组的工人中，呼气峰值流速（PEF）参数存在显著差异（P = 0.017）。在肺功能的其他参数（用力肺活量（FVC）、第一秒用力呼气容积（FEV）、用力呼气流量（FEF）、FEV/FVC%）方面，两组之间没有显著差异（分别为P = 0.45、P = 0.14、P = 0.29和P = 0.23）。
本研究结果为证实接触水泥粉尘会导致水泥行业工人PEF参数出现并发症这一假设提供了证据。
