TY - JOUR
T1 - Accelerated lung function decline in swine confinement workers
AU - Senthilselvan, Ambikaipakan
AU - Dosman, James A.
AU - Kirychuk, Shelly P.
AU - Barber, Ernie M.
AU - Rhodes, Chuck S.
AU - Zhang, Yuanhui
AU - Hurst, Tom S.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant from the National Health and Research Development Program (NHRDP), Health Canada.
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - We conducted a longitudinal study to determine the annual rate decline in pulmonary function measurements in male swine confinement workers. For comparison, a grain farming group and a nonfarming rural-dwelling control group were also been chosen for the longitudinal study. Two hundred seventeen swine confinement workers, 218 grain farmers, and 179 nonfarming control subjects had valid pulmonary function measurements at the baseline observation conducted in 1990 to 1991 and at the second observation conducted in 1994 to 1995. The swine confinement workers were younger (mean age=38.3±11.7 [SD] years) than the nonfarming control subjects (42.6±10.4 years) and the grain farmers (44.5±11.9 years). When stratified by age, nonfarming control subjects had the lowest mean annual rate decline in FEV1 and FVC in all age categories. The swine confinement workers had the largest annual rate decline in FEV1 and FVC, and this was most obvious in the middle age categories. After controlling for age, height, smoking, and baseline pulmonary function, swine confinement workers had excess annual decline of 26.1 mL in FEV1 (p=0.0005), 33.5 mL in FVC (p=0.0002), and 42.0 mL/s in forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF(25-75%)) (p=0.02) over nonfarming control subjects. Grain farmers had excess annual decline of 16.4 mL in FEV1 (p=0.03),26.7 mL in FVC (p=0.002), and 11.2 mL/s in FEF(25-75%) (p=0.38) over control subjects. These findings suggest that workers engaged in the swine industry and grain farmers appear prone to accelerated yearly losses in lung function and may therefore be at risk for the future development of chronic airflow limitation.
AB - We conducted a longitudinal study to determine the annual rate decline in pulmonary function measurements in male swine confinement workers. For comparison, a grain farming group and a nonfarming rural-dwelling control group were also been chosen for the longitudinal study. Two hundred seventeen swine confinement workers, 218 grain farmers, and 179 nonfarming control subjects had valid pulmonary function measurements at the baseline observation conducted in 1990 to 1991 and at the second observation conducted in 1994 to 1995. The swine confinement workers were younger (mean age=38.3±11.7 [SD] years) than the nonfarming control subjects (42.6±10.4 years) and the grain farmers (44.5±11.9 years). When stratified by age, nonfarming control subjects had the lowest mean annual rate decline in FEV1 and FVC in all age categories. The swine confinement workers had the largest annual rate decline in FEV1 and FVC, and this was most obvious in the middle age categories. After controlling for age, height, smoking, and baseline pulmonary function, swine confinement workers had excess annual decline of 26.1 mL in FEV1 (p=0.0005), 33.5 mL in FVC (p=0.0002), and 42.0 mL/s in forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF(25-75%)) (p=0.02) over nonfarming control subjects. Grain farmers had excess annual decline of 16.4 mL in FEV1 (p=0.03),26.7 mL in FVC (p=0.002), and 11.2 mL/s in FEF(25-75%) (p=0.38) over control subjects. These findings suggest that workers engaged in the swine industry and grain farmers appear prone to accelerated yearly losses in lung function and may therefore be at risk for the future development of chronic airflow limitation.
KW - Grain farming
KW - Longitudinal decline
KW - Pulmonary function
KW - Smoking
KW - Swine confinement workers
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U2 - 10.1378/chest.111.6.1733
DO - 10.1378/chest.111.6.1733
M3 - Article
C2 - 9187201
AN - SCOPUS:0030925012
SN - 0012-3692
VL - 111
SP - 1733
EP - 1741
JO - Diseases of the chest
JF - Diseases of the chest
IS - 6
ER -