Respiratory symptoms and other associated factors among the hotel chefs in Gondar town, Ethiopia

Thamimul Ansari Peer ​ Mohamed

doi:10.17485/ijst/v14i21.58

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study is to examine the respiratory symptoms and other associated factors among the hotel chefs. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with the hotel chefs was conducted using a face-to-face interview. Seventy-five hotel chefs participated in the study. A structured questionnaire was used and identified the self-reported symptoms of respiratory problems and factors associated. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a regression model. Results: The multivariate analysis show that level of education and the frequency of cooking were significantly associated with the respiratory symptoms among the hotel chefs with the p-value 0.05 and 0.011 respectively. In univariate analysis variables such as age, marital status, job position, years of service, cooking hours, and cooking frequency are found to be non-significant in association with respiratory symptoms among respondents. Discussion and conclusion: The variables such as Education and Cooking frequency reported higher prevalence and are significant and had the higher risks of getting respiratory symptoms though, the majority of the variables such as gender, age, marital status, job position, and cooking hours are non-significant in both univariate and multivariate analysis. The cooking oil fumes exposure and the cooking frequency activity among hotel chefs to be minimized/controlled to avoid their exposure to such respiratory symptoms. Keywords Cooking oil fumes, Ethiopia, Hotel Chefs, Respiratory symptoms, Star hotels

Highlights

Cooking is science and art of preparing food by the application of heat for eating purposes and this activity is undertaken in the food production department or kitchen with the help of kitchen staff
The time duration the chefs spend for cooking purposes varies from few hours to very long hours that depend upon the size of the hotel, menu, its customers, food-selling outlets that exist in the hotels [3,4]
Only education is significant with p= .042* and the rest of the variables are insignificant to p < 0.05

Summary

Introduction

Cooking is science and art of preparing food by the application of heat for eating purposes and this activity is undertaken in the food production department or kitchen with the help of kitchen staff. The time duration the chefs spend for cooking purposes varies from few hours to very long hours that depend upon the size of the hotel, menu, its customers, food-selling outlets that exist in the hotels [3,4]. Oil release its smoke, fumes, or vapors and inhaling these result to the cause of lung cancer [5]. Cooking methods such as stir-frying and deep-frying with. Cooking fumes occupational exposure is associated with an enlarged dominance of respiratory indications and critical alterable diminution in lung efficient ability [7]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion