Association of occupational hazards exposure with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease among residents aged 40 years and above in Zhejiang province

Abstract

ObjectiveTo explore the association between the detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational hazards exposure among permanent residents ≥ 40 years old in Zhejiang province for providing evidence to COPD prevention. MethodsFace-to-face questionnaire interview, anthropometry measurement and pulmonary function test were conducted among 3 004 permanent urban/rural residents aged 40 years and above recruited with stratified multistage random sampling in five counties/prefectures of Zhejiang province during April – December 2019. Unconditional multivariate logistic regression model was applied to analyze the correlation between occupational hazards exposure and the detection of COPD. Results Among the 2 926 participants (51.3% males, 48.7% females) finally included in the analysis, 1 004 (34.3%) and 755 (25.8%) reported having been exposed to occupational dust and harmful gas; the percentages of the participants reporting specific occupational history were 1.6% (48 participants) for coal/mining/quarrying/gas industry, 1.8% (53) for metallurgy/casting/machine manufacturing industry, 3.2% (95) for cement/asbestos/ceramics/glass/graphite produc-tion, 4.1% (119) for engineering/construction engineering/traffic construction, 3.7% (108) for petrochemical/chemical/pharma-ceutical industry, 5.4% (157) for wood processing/furniture processing/house decoration industry, 3.4% (100) for textile/papermaking/cotton/fur processing, 2.2% (63) for dry cleaning/cleaning/cook/porter work, and 18.8% (551) for farm work, respectively. Totally 361 (12.34%) participants were detected as having COPD based on the results of pulmonary function test (forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1]/forced vital capacity [FVC] < 70%). The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that the participants with farm work history were more likely to have COPD (odds ratio = 1.38, 95% confidence interval: 1.05 − 1.89) after adjusting for sex, age, education, marital status, body mass index and smoking status. ConclusionBeing engaged in farm work may be a risk factor for COPD among residents 40 years old and above in Zhejiang province.

Keywords

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• detection rate
• occupational exposure
• association
• residents aged 40 years and above