Pulmonary Function Response to Dust from Standard and Closed Boll Harvested Cotton

Abstract

Although the characteristic feature of byssinosis in workers exposed to cotton dust is the symptom of chest tightness occurring on the first day back to work after an absence, changes in objective measurements of pulmonary function also have been demonstrated. Not all byssinotic patients show objective changes, but as a group they tend to have greater reductions in the FEV1 over the workshift than asymptomatic workers and those not exposed to cotton dust.1 The prevalence of symptoms and decrements in pulmonary function increase with increasing dust exposure,2 but even high dust levels may be associated with a low prevalence of byssinosis if the dust is of low “biologic activity.”3 Reduction of the biologic activity of the dust may be important, since extrapolation of dose-response curves suggests that even low levels of dust may be associated with symptoms of byssinosis in some workers.