[Analysis of respiratory parameters before and after working in manual laborers at a tobacco factory]. / Analiza wartosci wskazników wentylacyjnych przed praca oraz po jej zakonczeniu u pracowników fizycznych przemyslu tytoniowego.

From the group of 102 workers of local cigarette factory 51 persons had a contact with tobacco leaves before fermentation and other 51 workers with after process of fermentation. Values of spirometric parameters before and after 8 hour lung occupational exposition to tobacco leaves were evaluated in both groups. Increase of obturation of both large and small airways was found after workshift. 31 of examined persons had more than 20% inferior values of FEV1, Raw and FEF 25/75. That hyperspasmatic reaction of bronchi was found both in subjects with signs of obturation and in persons with normal results in examination before workshift. This finding concerned mostly workers who inhaled dust of tobacco leaves prior to fermentation.

Comparison of airway resistance of inhabitants of two distinctly different polluted areas.

To assess the influence of noxious ecological factors caused by air, water and soil pollution, multidisciplinary medical examination of inhabitants of villages situated in the Protective Zone of the Nowa Huta Steel Mill Plant was conducted. Tokarnia, a village about 40 km south-west of Cracow, commonly believed to have favorable environmental conditions, provided a background for the comparison. The aim of this study was to compare respiratory resistance of people living in these two areas. Mean values of Raw were higher in all groups of inhabitants of the Zone. The differences between arithmetic means of this parameter in groups of boys, girls, women and men were statistically significant.

[Evaluation of health status in inhabitants of the protected zone near a steel mill. I. Incidence of certain diseases]. / Ocena stanu zdrowia mieszkanców strefy ochronnej kombinatu metalurgicznego. I. Czestosc wystepowania niektórych schorzen.

The state of health, with use of precise epidemiological criteria, of 232 inhabitants of villages located in the protective zone of Nowa Huta Steel-Mill was estimated. The reference group consisted of 137 inhabitants of Tokarnia village, matched with sex, age and occupation. Examinations were performed in the standard clinical conditions, including uniform set of criteria used to establish diagnosis for each subject of examination. It was found that the most important threat for their health were cardiovascular and/or respiratory tract diseases. Among diagnosed illnesses the most important place was occupied by arteriosclerosis in both sexes, arterial hypertension among women and chronic bronchitis as well as emphysema of lungs in men. Inhabitants of the protective zone had generally higher incidence of above mentioned diseases than inhabitants of Tokarnia.

[Evaluation of health status in inhabitants of the protected zone near a steel mill. II. Overweight and obesity]. / Ocena stanu zdrowia mieszkanców strefy ochronnej kombinatu metalurgicznego. II. Nadwaga i otylosc.

In the group of 232 inhabitants of the protective zone of Nowa Huta the Steel-Mill (181 women and 51 men) incidence of overweight and obesity was estimated using the Quetelet and Wot indices. The results were compared with appropriate data obtained for 37 men and 100 women, matched with age and occupation, inhabitants of Tokarnia village, known by favorable microclimate, rarely encountered in polluted areas of southern Poland. It was found that overweight and obesity was present in the group of the protective zone statistically more often than in Tokarnia. The differences were more pronounced for women than for men. Concentrations of serum cholesterol and triglycerides were also compared. Distribution of cholesterol in examined groups was similar to the distribution of the Quetelet index, differences of arithmetic means being statistically significant, whereas concentration of triglycerides was remarkably similar in all groups under investigation. In this paper rarely used method of data presentation was applied. From histograms of given parameter normalised curves were derived and served as a representation of parameter distribution in the studied population. This method grossly alleviated task of comparison and evaluation of obtained data.

[Evaluation of health status for inhabitants of the protected zone near a steel mill. III. Occurrence of pulmonary emphysema]. / Ocena stanu zdrowia mieszkanców strefy ochronnej kombinatu metalurgicznego. III. Wystepowanie rozedmy plluc.

In the groups of 232 inhabitants of the protective zone of Steel-Mill Nowa Huta in Kraków (181 women and 51 men) and 137 inhabitants of Tokarnia village, located appx 60 km from Kraków, far from industrial emitters of chemical and physical pollutants (100 women and 37 men), frequency of occurrence of emphysema was estimated. Diagnosis of that disease was based on clinical signs and symptoms, as well as on values of RV%TLC. It was shown that despite similar values of arithmetic mean, mode and median of RV%TLC in both groups, standardised curves representing normal distribution of this parameter were displaced toward higher pathological values in both sexes, inhabitants of the protective zone. Higher frequency of incidence of emphysema in the groups living in the protective zone could be connected with gaseous and dust pollutants present in the atmosphere.

[Risk of coronary heart disease in metallurgy employees in light of prospective examinations]. / Ryzyko choroby niedokrwiennej serca u hutników w swietle badania prospektywnego.

The group of physical workers of metallurgic plant (average period of employment was 12.4 +/- 6.4 years) consisting of 1100 men aged from 20 to 59 years, was underwent double medical examination in 5 years interval in standard clinical conditions. The 8 risk factors of coronary heart disease (CHD): aged, sex, family history, systolic blood pressure, cholesterol blood concentration, body weight, cigarette smoking and professional physical activity were analysed. Each factor was graded from "0" to "8" points. To evaluate individual risk of CHD all points were summed to give the total score. It was found, in both examinations, that most of examined persons showed an average risk of CHD. The second examination (5 years after the first) demonstrated an increase of percent the workers with higher risk of CHD. The smoking habit and overweight were the most important among risk factors in the population studied.

[Comparison of 2 methods of determining excessive body weight in relation to spirometric indicators]. / Porównanie dwóch sposobów okreslania nadwagi w relacji z wielkoscia wskazników spirometrycznych.

In a sample of the male population (1087 men) aged 25-60, who made hard physical labour, groups of normal body mass and overweight were isolated. The overweighted group had a body weight of 125% of suitable body mass (according to Lorentz). Overweighted men were divided into two groups: a) with excessively developed muscular tissue, b) with excessively developed adipose tissue. This division was based on two indices: W--including height, present body mass and age, Wot--including height, present body mass and skin-folds thickness. In these subgroups the values of spirometric indices were studied and VC and FEV1 of all overweighted men and those of normal body mass were compared. In the case of W index the VC and FEV1 values of muscular men and fat men were practically the same and very near to the values of all those overweighted but lower than the values of men with normal body mass. In the case of Wot index the following tendencies were observed: muscular men had higher VC and FEV1 values than fat men and all those overweighted; these values were similar to those of men with normal body mass. fat men had significantly lower VC and FEV1 values than overweighted men and those with normal body mass.

[Effect of obesity on the ventilatory capacity of the respiratory system. I. Relation between basic spirometric indicators: vital capacity (VC) and forced expiratory volume (FEV1) and obesity]. / Wplyw otylosci na sprawnosc wentylacyjna ukladu oddechowego. Czesc I. Zwiazek pomiedzy podstawowymi wskaznikami spirometrycznymi: pojemnoscia zyciowa (VC) i natezona objetoscia wydechowa 1 s (FEV1) a otyloscia.

The following procedures have been applied for evaluation of obesity of 1087 men, steel mill workers: all examined men have been divided into intervals of relative body weight (after Lorentz), indices including measurements of the current body weight and height, indices including measurements of the current body weight, height and skinfolds thickness. All examined persons have undergone measurements of spirometric parameters. The strongest correlation with spirometric values was that of the index of obesity including, apart from the body weight and height, also skinfolds thickness. This index of obesity provides good estimation of respiratory efficiency, which diminishes as obesity intensifies.

[Effect of obesity on the ventilatory capacity of the respiratory system. II. Reference spirometry values of VC and FEV1 for overweight males]. / Wplyw otylosci na sprawnosc wentylacyjna ukladu oddechowego. Cz. II. Nalezne wartosci spirometryczne VC i FEV1 dla mezczyzn nadmiernie otylych.

642 persons without respiratory and circulatory diseases were selected from 1087 steel mill workers. The examined persons were classified according to the intervals of relative body mass. The relations between spirometric parameters (VC and FEV1) and degree of obesity were studied. For each interval the equations of multiple regression were calculated, taking into account the dependence of VC and FEV1 on age, height and present body mass. The numeric factor from the equation of multiple regression of coefficient describing the dependence of VC on the present body mass was positive in 90-114% and 115-124% intervals but negative in 125-134% and 135% of body mass. In case of FEV1 the negative factor of the same coefficient was not negative until 135% of body mass. A positive correlation of VC and FEV1 with the present body mass in the whole population was shown. If the group of obese persons was formed on the basis of Wot anthropometric index (which included skinfolds thickness, present body mass and height), significantly lower values of VC and FEV1 were found in comparison to non-obese counterparts. For the persons with morbid obesity a new method of calculation of predicted VC and FEV1 values was presented. The equation of multiple regression used for this purpose takes into account the dependence of spirometric values on age and Wot index.

[Spirometric studies in clinically healthy metallurgy workers. II. Reference values of basic respiratory indicators]. / Badania spirometryczne klinicznie zdrowych pracowników hutnictwa. Czesc II. Wartosci nalezne podstawowych wskazników wentylacyjnych.

In a group of 520 clinically healthy men employed in metallurgy, predicted values in the function of age, height and body weight were set up by multiple regression for VC, FEV1 RV, ERV, FRC, RV%TLC and for FEV1%VC in the function of age and for TLC in the function of height. In the tables are given predicted values for VC, FEV1, RV%TLC (based on equations of regression) for 9 intervals of age, height and body weight.

[Spirometric studies in clinically healthy workers in steel mills. I. Effect of age, body height and body weight on the variability of selected ventilation indicators]. / Badania spirometryczne klinicznie zdrowych pracowników hutnictwa. Czesc I. Wplyw wieku, wzrostu i ciezaru ciala na zmiennosc wybranych wskazników wentylacyjnych.

Of 2750 examined workers of the Lenin steel mill a group of 520 so called healthy men aged 20-60 has been selected, who had developed chronic specific and inspecific diseases of the respiratory tract, and circulatory diseases during myocardial insufficiency and arterial hypertension. This population underwent tests performed by the F function, test of significance of differences between coefficients of multiple determination in the function of age, growth and body weight, and in the function of: age and height; age and body weight, height and body weight, which allowed to determine the contribution of age, height and body weight in the significance of the following spirometric indices: VC, FEV1%VC, RV, ERV, FRC, RV% TLC, TLC. Age exhibited statistically significant contribution to the total variance of VC, FEV1%VC, RV, ERV, FRC RV%TLC, and insignificant--in case of TLC. Height exhibits significant impace on VC, RV, ERV, FRC, TLC, RV%TLC. Statistically insignificant dependence on height was obtained in case of FEV1%VC. Inclusion of body weight showed a statistically significant explanatory value for VC, RC, ERV, FRC RV%TLC, and insignificant for TLC and FEV1%VC.

[Comparison of spirometric indicators in smoking and non-smoking metallurgical workers]. / Porównanie wartosci wskazników spirometrycznych u hutników palacych i niepalacych.

In a population of 327 "clinically healthy" metallurgists (140 non-smokers, and 187 smoking 15-24 cigarettes daily), categorized into seven 4-year age groups, the following spirometric parameters were determined: VC, FEV1, %VC, RV, ERV, FRC, TLC, RV%TLC. A significantly higher VC was found among non-smokers only in those aged 25-23, whereas FEV1%VC--in those aged 37-40. In smokers statistically higher ERV values were found in those aged 37-40 and 41-44. As to RV and RV%TLC statistically worse results were found among smokers aged 29-32. The best FRC index among smokers was found in the group 41-44 years old. TLC was not significantly different in any of age groups concerned. The above data comparing 49 subgroups of smokers and 49 subgroups of non-smokers indicate that the smoking of 15-24 cigarettes a day does not significantly enhance the ventilation parameters in "clinically healthy" metallurgists.