ABSTRACT
Background: Occupational exposure of farmers are known to cause many respiratory illness and manifestgreater rates of asthma and respiratory symptoms than other workers. The poultry farm workers are exposedto organic dust, endotoxins and hazardous gases. Longer the duration of exposure to the dust, greater thehealth hazard. Therefore, the objective of this study was to record and compare the various pulmonaryfunction parameters in poultry farm workers on the basis of duration of exposure to poultry dust. Methods:The study was conducted on 66 poultry farm workers after taking written informed consent. Pulmonaryfunction tests was performed using Autospirometer (Helios 701: Chandigarh). The workers were groupedaccording to duration of exposure into five sub groups (Group A upto 5 years, Group B >5-10 years, GroupC >10-15 years, Group D >15-20, Group E >20 years exposure). Data was analyzed using one way ANOVAand post-hoc by Bonferroni test. Results: We found that the pulmonary functions started deterioratinggradually in poultry farm workers after 5-10 years of exposure (Group B) to poultry dust with maximumdecrease on exposure to more than 20 years (Group E). There was statistically significant decrease in FVC,FEV0.5, FEV1, FEV3 with normal FEV1/FVC suggesting restrictive ventilatory changes in poultry workers.There was significant decrease in FEF25-75% and FEF0.2-1.2, PEFR suggesting early small and largeairway obstruction respectively. Conclusion: Poultry dust adversely affects the respiratory function and thisimpairment is associated with duration of exposure to poultry dust. The present study intends to raise publicawareness about occupational exposure to poultry dust in poultry farm workers.