A 4-Year Follow-up Cohort Study of the Respiratory Functions in Toner-handling Workers
Safety and Health at Work
;
: 222-226, 2014.
Article
in English
| WPRIM
| ID: wpr-178789
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Focusing on the respiratory function for health effect indices, we conducted a cross-sectional study on workers who did and did not handle toner to compare the longitudinal changes.METHODS:
Among 116 individuals who worked for a Japanese business equipment manufacturer and participated in the study, the analysis included 69 male workers who we were able to follow up for 4 years. We categorized the 40 workers engaged in toner-handling work as the exposed group and the 29 workers not engaged in these tasks as the referent group, and compared their respiratory function testresults:
peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), vital capacity (VC), predicted vital capacity (%VC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and forced expiratory volume in 1 second as a percent of forced vital capacity (FEV1%).RESULTS:
The cross-sectional study of the respiratory function test results at the baseline and at the 5th year showed no statistically significant differences in PEFR, VC, %VC, FEV1, and FEV1% between the exposed and referent workers. Also, respiratory function time-course for 4 years was calculated and compared between the groups. No statistically significant differences were shown.CONCLUSION:
Our study does not suggest any toner exposure effects on respiratory function. However, the number of subjects was small in our study; studies of larger populations will be desired in the future.
Full text:
Available
Index:
WPRIM (Western Pacific)
Main subject:
Respiratory Function Tests
/
Peak Expiratory Flow Rate
/
Vital Capacity
/
Forced Expiratory Volume
/
Cross-Sectional Studies
/
Cohort Studies
/
Follow-Up Studies
/
Commerce
/
Copying Processes
/
Asian People
Type of study:
Etiology study
/
Incidence study
/
Observational study
/
Prevalence study
/
Prognostic study
/
Risk factors
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Safety and Health at Work
Year:
2014
Type:
Article
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