Saraei Maryam, Mehrdad Ramin, Naserpour Mahsa, Aminaian Omid, Pouryaghoub Gholamraza, Eftekhari Sahar, Vahdati Tahereh, Pouragha Hamidreza
Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine and Baharlou Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Centre for Research on Occupational Diseases CROD, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Indian J Occup Environ Med. 2024 Jul-Sep;28(3):207-213. doi: 10.4103/ijoem.ijoem_16_24. Epub 2024 Sep 30.
This study seeks to define the pulmonary function of a considerably large group in one of the largest automotive companies in Iran. The aim of this study was to compare the two groups of spot-welding (exposed) and assembly line (unexposed) workers in terms of pulmonary function and conclude the probable impacts of metal fumes on pulmonary function in the two groups.
A total of 1,798 spot-welding personnel and 2,160 assembly line personnel were compared in terms of pulmonary function. Moreover, 120 breathing zone samples were collected from the welders' metal fumes and were analyzed. The parameters of age, anthropometric indices, smoking, and pulmonary symptoms were also compared with across the two groups.
Results revealed the FEV mean of the total population to be 3.9 ± 0.5 liters and FVC to have been 4.9 ± 0.7 liters. Besides, predicted FEV and FVC percentages across the whole population were close to 100%, suggesting the better condition of the studied population compared with normal individuals in the society. All the parameters of age, weight, height, and smoking status were similar in the two groups, and no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of pulmonary functions.
Implementation of professional health and health improvement programs, running screening programs, and hiring personnel with no history of mild pulmonary disorders, and healthy workers effect at the recruitment stage could be the reasons behind the lack of significant difference between the two exposed and unexposed groups to metal fumes in the automotive industry in terms of pulmonary function.
本研究旨在确定伊朗最大的汽车公司之一中相当大一群人的肺功能。本研究的目的是比较点焊（暴露）和装配线（未暴露）两组工人的肺功能，并得出金属烟雾对两组肺功能可能产生的影响。
比较了总共1798名点焊人员和2160名装配线人员的肺功能。此外，从焊工的金属烟雾中收集了120个呼吸区样本并进行了分析。还比较了两组之间的年龄、人体测量指标、吸烟情况和肺部症状参数。
结果显示，总人群的第一秒用力呼气容积（FEV）平均值为3.9±0.5升，用力肺活量（FVC）为4.9±0.7升。此外，整个人群的预测FEV和FVC百分比接近100%，表明与社会中的正常个体相比，所研究人群的状况更好。两组的年龄、体重、身高和吸烟状况等所有参数均相似，两组在肺功能方面未观察到统计学上的显著差异。
实施职业健康和健康改善计划、开展筛查计划、招聘无轻度肺部疾病史的人员以及在招聘阶段注重健康工人效应，可能是汽车行业中暴露于金属烟雾和未暴露于金属烟雾的两组在肺功能方面没有显著差异的原因。
