title: [Pilot study: Apricena Marble District quarry workers and COPD].
abstract: The aim of the present article was to verify the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) prevalence in a cohort of quarry workers who belong to the Apricena Marble District. We studied 70 workers. They received a questionnaire about the disease and confounding factors. The spirometry showed that the FEV1 was normal in 95% of workers, instead 5% showed values lower than former (Average: 73%). TNF alpha and IL-1 Beta in Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) were lower than the method limit in all workers. Our cohort is limited, but we could retain that the lung disease is not present in workers taken into consideration. Our results are in according to Rushton who demonstrated that only a prolonged occupation, higher than thirty years, is able to induce lung disease.
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche Università degli Studi di Foggia OO.RR., Foggia, Italy. r.zefferino@unifg.it
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Zefferino
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Arsa
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Masullo
authors: A G
authors: AG
authors: Nigri
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Fanelli
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Carella
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Ambrosi
mesh_terms: D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016272:Occupational Health; D010865:Pilot Projects; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D002119:Calcium Carbonate