title: Passive smoking, pulmonary function and bronchial hyper-responsiveness among indoor sanitary workers.
abstract: Pulmonary function parameters of 21 cleaning/sanitary women workers who have never smoked, exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at work were compared with 34 non-exposed women workers of comparable age and other work characteristics. The studied subjects were subjected to an interview questionnaire, pulmonary function measurements, bronchial responsiveness assessment and clinical chest examination. A higher prevalence of dyspnea was found (42.9%) among exposed compared to (14.7%) among the non-exposed workers (p=0.019), also wheezing (52.4% vs. 11.8%; p=0.001). Pulmonary measurements showed a lower FVC, FEV(1)/FVC and FEF(75) values among exposed compared to non-exposed (p<0.05), and a higher prevalence of borderline bronchial hyper-responsiveness (38.1% vs. 11.8%; p=0.021) in the exposed workers. This study provides evidence of adverse respiratory effects in sanitary/cleaning women workers associated with passive smoking in the workplace. The findings support a stricter implementation measures to protect respiratory health of all workers.
authors.affiliation: Community Medicine Department, Occupational Health Group, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt. afahim70@gmail.com
authors.forename: Ayamn Ekram
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Fahim
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Prince
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000139:chemically induced; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016272:Occupational Health; D015995:Prevalence; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012499:Sanitation; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution