Respiratory health of two cohorts of terminal grain elevator workers studied 30 years apart.
BACKGROUND
We evaluated the respiratory health of two cohorts of grain terminal elevator workers who participated in one of either respiratory health surveys undertaken in 1978 and 2008.


METHODS
Questionnaire and spirometry data from 584 workers from the 1978 survey and 215 workers from the 2008 survey were compared using logistic regression and general linear modeling.


RESULTS
The geometric means of area samples of grain dust averaged 8.28 mg/m(3) in 1978 and 2.06 mg/m(3) in 2008. Workers in the 1978 survey had a significantly higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms (with the largest adjusted odds ratio of 3.78, 95% CI 2.07-7.25, for shortness of breath), a lower prevalence of atopic conditions and lower mean lung function.


CONCLUSIONS
Current grain workers had a lower risk of respiratory health consequences and a greater prevalence of atopic conditions than workers surveyed 30 years prior, most likely associated with reduced exposure to grain dust in the terminal elevator environment.
Dimich-Ward
Helen
H
Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. helen.ward@ubc.ca
Beking
Kris J
KJ
Dybuncio
Anne
A
Bartlett
Karen H
KH
Karlen
Barbara J
BJ
Chow
Yat
Y
Chan-Yeung
Moira
M
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000382:Agricultural Workers' Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D001955:British Columbia; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004607:Elevators and Escalators; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D016272:Occupational Health; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors