Fawer R F, Gardner A W, Oakes D
Br J Ind Med. 1982 May;39(2):149-52. doi: 10.1136/oem.39.2.149.
Certified sickness rates of 36 male welders were examined for the period 1970-9. They were compared with 36 male controls from the same petrochemical plant, matched for age, smoking habits, duration of employment, and social class. Indices of severity (average annual duration), duration (average length of spell), and frequency (inception rate of spells and inception rate per worker) were calculated. Absences for all diseases were similar, but absences attributed to respiratory diseases were slightly higher in welders in severity, duration, and frequency. The proportion of days lost attributed to respiratory diseases was 2.3 times higher in welders compared with controls. This was due to a large increase in absences attributed to lower respiratory tract diseases, the ratio of welders to controls being more than four to one for both severity and inception rate of spells. The comparison between welders and controls in smokers and non-smokers confirms other studies which show that smokers tend to be more affected by welding fumes than non-smokers.
对36名男性焊工在1970年至1979年期间的经认证的病假率进行了检查。将他们与来自同一家石化厂的36名男性对照者进行比较，这些对照者在年龄、吸烟习惯、就业时长和社会阶层方面进行了匹配。计算了严重程度指数（平均年病假时长）、病假时长（平均每次病假的长度）和病假频率（病假发生率和每名工人的发病率）。所有疾病的缺勤情况相似，但归因于呼吸系统疾病的缺勤在严重程度、时长和频率方面，焊工略高于对照者。焊工因呼吸系统疾病导致的缺勤天数比例是对照者的2.3倍。这是由于下呼吸道疾病导致的缺勤大幅增加，在严重程度和发病率方面，焊工与对照者的比例均超过四比一。对吸烟者和非吸烟者中的焊工与对照者进行的比较证实了其他研究结果，即吸烟者往往比非吸烟者更容易受到焊接烟雾的影响。
