Pulmonary Functions are Impaired among Carpet Factory Workers: A Spirometric Evaluation

Abstract

Introduction: Carpet factory produces various types of dusts and workers occupationally get exposed to them continuously. It has adverse health effects and most notably to the pulmonary functions. Nepal is one of the carpet exporter developing countries and still does have many factories within Kathmandu valley. However, the health hazards especially the status of pulmonary function of carpet factory workers from Nepal has not been studied. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was designed to recruit carpet factory workers and healthy controls to assess their pulmonary functions. A total of 118 subjects (59 males and 59 females) were recruited (60 carpet factory workers and 58 controls). Pulmonary function tests were carried out using Medical International Research Spirolab II portable spirometer. Results: The carpet factory workers had signi cantly less FEV1 (90.37 ±16.6 % vs. 103.89±9.79%, p<0.001), FVC (87.78 ± 15.48 % vs. 102.81 ± 8.41 %, p < 0.001) and PEFR (66.19 ± 20.29 % vs. 102.81 ± 11.09 %, p < 0.001) as compared to control group. Similarly the carpet factory workers had signi cantly higher FEV1/FVC ratio (89.96 ± 6.42 % vs. 87.12 ± 4.58 %, p = 0.007) as compared to control. Conclusions: Carpet industry dusts exposure adversely affects pulmonary functions among its workers. The  ndings signi cant increase in the FEV1/FVC ratio and decrease in FEV1, FVC, and PEFR suggest that the effects are both restrictive and obstructive patterns of lung disease. Keywords: carpet industry; lung function; occupational health; pollution; spirometry.