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Occupational exposures to solvents and metals are associated with fixed airflow obstruction
Citation
Alif, SM and Dharmage, SC and Benke, G and Dennekamp, M and Burgess, JA and Perret, JL and Lodge, CJ and Morrison, S and Johns, DP and Giles, GG and Gurrin, LC and Thomas, PS and Hopper, JL and Wood-Baker, R and Thompson, BR and Feather, IH and Vermeulen, R and Kromhout, H and Walters, EH and Abramson, MJ and Matheson, MC, Occupational exposures to solvents and metals are associated with fixed airflow obstruction, Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health ISSN 0355-3140 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract
Objectives: This study investigated the associations between occupational exposures to solvents and metals and fixed airflow obstruction (AO) using post-bronchodilator spirometry.
Methods: We included 1335 participants from the 2002–2008 follow-up of the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health
Study. Ever-exposure and cumulative exposure-unit (EU) years were calculated using the ALOHA plus job
exposure matrix (JEM). Fixed AO was defined as post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in one second
(FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) <0.7 and FEV1/FVC Results: Ever-exposure to metals was associated with fixed AO [relative risk (RR) 1.71, 95% CI 1.03–2.85]
and fixed AO lower limit of normal (RR 1.67, 95% CI 1.00–2.78). Women had lower cumulative EU years to
chlorinated solvents [mean 20.9, standard deviation (SD) 13.4] than men (mean 28.6, SD 36.9). However, the risk
of developing fixed AO and fixed AO plus low DLCO associated with each cumulative EU year of chlorinated solvents
were higher among women than men (RR 1.08 versus 0.99, P-value for effect measure modification=0.006;
RR 1.08 versus 1.00, P-value for effect measure modification=0.02). Conclusions: We have shown ever-exposure to metals and chlorinated solvents are important risk factors for
fixed AO. The effects for solvents were strongest among women. Preventive strategies need to be followed to
reduce these exposures at the workplace.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | COPD, airflow obstruction, exposure, chlorinated solvents, metals |
Research Division: | Biomedical and Clinical Sciences |
Research Group: | Cardiovascular medicine and haematology |
Research Field: | Respiratory diseases |
Objective Division: | Health |
Objective Group: | Clinical health |
Objective Field: | Clinical health not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Dharmage, SC (Professor Shyamali Dharmage) |
UTAS Author: | Johns, DP (Associate Professor David Johns) |
UTAS Author: | Wood-Baker, R (Professor Richard Wood-Baker) |
UTAS Author: | Walters, EH (Professor Haydn Walters) |
ID Code: | 121365 |
Year Published: | 2017 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
Deposited By: | Medicine |
Deposited On: | 2017-09-26 |
Last Modified: | 2018-09-11 |
Downloads: | 61 View Download Statistics |
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