title: Evaluation of the persistence of functional and biological respiratory health effects in clean-up workers 6 years after the prestige oil spill.
abstract: Fishermen who had participated in clean-up activities of the Prestige oil spill showed increased bronchial responsiveness and higher levels of respiratory biomarkers 2 years later. We aimed to evaluate the persistence of these functional and biological respiratory health effects 6 years after clean-up work. In 2008/2009 a follow-up study was done in 230 never-smoking fishermen who had been exposed to clean-up work in 2002/2003 and 87 non-exposed fishermen. Lung function and bronchial responsiveness testing and the determination of respiratory biomarkers in exhaled breath condensate were done identically as in the baseline survey in 2004/2005. Associations between participation in clean-up work and respiratory health parameters were assessed using linear and logistic regression analyses adjusting for sex and age. Information from 158 exposed (69%) and 57 non-exposed (66%) fishermen was obtained. Loss to follow-up in the non-exposed was characterised by less respiratory symptoms at baseline. During the 4-year follow-up period lung function, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and the levels of respiratory biomarkers of oxidative stress and growth factors had deteriorated notably more among non-exposed than among exposed. At follow-up, respiratory health indices were similar or better in clean-up workers than in non-exposed. No clear differences between highly exposed and moderately exposed clean-up workers were found. In conclusion, we could not detect long-term respiratory health effects in clean-up workers 6 years after the Prestige oil spill. Methodological issues that need to be considered in this type of studies include the choice of a non-exposed control group and limitation of follow-up to subgroups such as never smokers.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain; Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain. Electronic address: jpzock@creal.cat.
authors.forename: Jan-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zock
authors.forename: Gema
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Trigo
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Souto-Alonso
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Espinosa
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pozo-Rodríguez
authors.forename: Federico P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fuster
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castaño-Vinyals
authors.forename: Josep Maria
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Antó
authors.forename: Joan Albert
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Barberà
mesh_terms: D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D059392:Petroleum Pollution; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013995:Time
keywords: BHR; Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor; Biomarkers; Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness; EBC; Emergency responders; Exhaled breath condensate; FEF(25–75%); FEV(1); FVC; Forced Expiratory Volume in the first second; Forced Vital Capacity; GM; Geometric Mean; IL; Interleukin; Longitudinal; Mean Forced Expiratory Flow between 25% and 75% of the FVC; OR; Odds Ratio; Oil spill; Respiratory; SD; SF; San Francisco quality of life questionnaire; Standard Deviation; TNF; Tumour Necrosis Factor; VEGF; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor; bFGF