Respiratory Health of Male Steel Workers in the Eastern Coast of Peninsular Malaysia | Science Publications

摘要

> >A cross sectional study was carried out to determine theprevalence of respiratory symptoms and associated factors with respiratoryhealth among male steel workers. A total of 424 male workers in the steelproduction plant were recruited using a stratified random sampling. Subjects wereinterviewed regarding respiratory symptoms using a British Medical ResearchCouncil (BMRC) Questionnaire on respiratory symptoms and were examined theirlung function using spirometry. Prevalence of chronic cough, chronic phlegm,chest tightness and shortness of breath were 35.8, 32.8, 23.4 and 22.4%,respectively. Age, duration employment and smoking were among the factorsassociated with respiratory symptoms (p0.05). Forced Expiratory in 1 sec(FEV₁) and %FEV₁/FVC of workers were significantly reducedas compared to the healthy population (p0.05). The effect of cigarette onFEV₁ was shown among the current smokers (β = -0.099, p0.05). Level of dustiness was significantlyreduced the FVC (β = -0.047, p0.05) whileduration of work was significantly reduced the %FEV₁/FVC (β = -0.214, p0.01). Lung function test revealed somedegree of impairment as compared to healthy population and smoking also had anadditive effect on respiratory health, thus required further extensiveepidemiological and pathological studies for the health and safety of the steelmill workers.