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- Title
Inhalable Dust Exposure and Lung Function Among Rice Mill, Sawmill and Furniture Factory Workers.
- Authors
Asri, Amiratul Aifa Mohamad; Anua, Siti Marwanis; Safuan, Sabreena; Shakri, Siti Farhanah Md; Hussein, Nur Safuraa Mat; Ishak, Nur Syafiqah; Zin, Ros Aida Mohd
- Abstract
Introduction: Exposure to total inhalable dust has become a public concern because constant exposure to the dust concentration exceeding workplace exposure limit may cause decline in lung function. This study aims to compare the total inhalable dust exposure among rice mill, sawmill, furniture factory and non-exposed workers as well as to correlate the dust exposure with lung function. Methods: A total of 77 exposed and 39 non-exposed workers were recruited into this study utilising purposive sampling method. The total inhalable dust concentration was collected using Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) personal airborne sampler loaded with glass microfibre filter connected to a sampling pump via tygon tubing which was attached to the workers. Post-shift lung function test was also measured. Results: There was a significant difference in the dust concentration between rice mill, sawmill, furniture factory and non-exposed workers (p = 0.001) with the highest median value of 2.4 x 103 µg/m3 (IQR: 1.1 x 103 -- 5.8 x 103) among sawmill workers. Significant difference (p = 0.001) was shown between workers for measured forced expiratory value in one second (FEV1), measured forced expiratory value in one second and forced vital capacity ratio (FEV1/FVC) and predicted FEV1/FVC. Among the exposed workers, weak negative significant correlations were portrayed between total inhalable dust with the predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) (r = -0.282, p = 0.013) and predicted FEV1 (r = -0.241, p = 0.035). Conclusion: Dust concentration might be attributable to the lung function decline among exposed workers especially sawmill workers.
- Subjects
RICE milling; INDUSTRIAL workers; DUST; SAWMILLS; PULMONARY function tests
- Publication
Malaysian Journal of Medicine & Health Sciences, 2020, Vol 16, p49
- ISSN
1675-8544
- Publication type
Article