title: Adverse respiratory and irritant health effects in temple workers in Taiwan.
abstract: Temple workers are potentially exposed to high concentrations of various pollutants emitted from incense burning. The purpose of this study was to assess whether or not there is an excess of adverse health outcomes among temple workers. A cross-sectional health survey was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of chronic respiratory symptoms and acute irritative symptoms among 109 temple workers (exposure group) and 118 church workers (control group) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Chronic cough symptoms were significantly more common among the exposed group. Our results also indicate that working in a temple increases the risk for the development of acute irritative symptoms, including nose and throat irritation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chi-Kung
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Wei-Rong
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Chun-Yuh
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects; D003371:Cough / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007509:Irritants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012067:Religion; D012906:Smoke / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D007509:Irritants; D012906:Smoke