Comparative study of pulmonary function in human beings exposed to cotton fiber and non-exposed human beings

Abstract

Introduction: Byssinosis is a breathing disorder that occurs in some individuals with exposure to raw cotton dust; and also in people who work in flax or hemp dust. It is a worldwide and popular occupational disease. Characteristically, workers exhibit shortness of breath and feeling of chest tightness when returning to work after a holiday. Pulmonary function testing (PFT) is important for early identification of workers experiencing breathing problem that may be related to their work place. Aim: To bring to light the importance of health among the daily wage earners like the cotton workers to avoid sickness and also the employers to decrease the casualities and labour hours. Materials and Methods: This is a comparative study which was conducted on human male and female subjects comprising of 150 apparently healthy cotton dust workers of ages ranging from 20-30 (Group-I), 30-40 (Group-II) and 40-50 (Group-III) years and an equal number of healthy human beings of same age not exposed to cotton dust. Pulmonary function tests (PFT) namely Forced vital capacity (FVC), Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), Forced expiratory flow (FEF25-75%) and Forced expiratory volume percentage (FEV1 %) were assessed by computerized spirometry. Statistical comparison was done by using the student t-test. Results: There is a significant decrease in pulmonary function tests FVC, FEV1, FEF 25-75%, FEV1% in human beings exposed to cotton fiber when compared to controls. Keywords: Byssinosis, FVC, FEV1, FEF 25-75%, FEV1%, Spirometry.