title: Respiratory problems among cotton textile workers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Long term occupational exposure to cotton dust is associated with respiratory symptoms and loss of pulmonary function.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was conducted to explore respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function tests and chest radiography of workers, and to evaluate the findings of high resolution computed tomographyand its correlation with pulmonary function tests (PFT).
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted on 100 cotton workers as exposed group and 100 unexposed subjects. Smokers were excluded from the study. All workers were interviewed and examined by the pulmonologist. PFT and chest radiography were conducted for all subjects. HRCT was performed for those with abnormal PFT or chest radiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 51% and 31% of the cotton textile workers had one or more respiratory symptoms and respiratory signs respectively. 28% of subjects in the exposed group and 5% of subjects in unexposed group had obstructive pattern. Bronchia wall thickening and air trapping were the most frequent chest radiography and HRCT abnormalities respectively. There was a significant correlation between HRCT and the results of PFT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that long term exposure to cotton dust is associated with obstructive disease that increase with duration of exposure (history of working years), also use of HRCT as a sensitive tool in the assessment of pathologic changes and it's correlation with PFT, confirms the expected pathophysiology of airway obstruction in cotton workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mansouri
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Safety and Environmental Management, Baharloo Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Jaber Parsa
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pili
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran.
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.affiliation: Center for Research on Occupational Diseases, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Nazanin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Izadi
keywords: Cotton workers; respiratory; textile