RESEARCH ARTICLE
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Never-Smoking Dairy Farmers
Saso Stoleski*, Jordan Minov, Jovanka Karadzinska-Bislimovska , Dragan Mijakoski
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 9
Issue: Suppl 1: M5
First Page: 59
Last Page: 66
Publisher ID: TORMJ-9-59
DOI: 10.2174/1874306401509010059
Article History:
Received Date: 6/1/2015Revision Received Date: 25/2/2015
Acceptance Date: 25/3/2015
Electronic publication date: 31 /3/2015
Collection year: 2015
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Introduction :
Work-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents a considerable part of the disease burden globally.
Objective :
To assess the COPD prevalence and characteristics in never-smoking dairy farmers.
Materials and Methodology :
We have conducted a cross-sectional study with 75 male dairy farmers aged 26 to 59 years, and compared them with equivalent number of male office workers similar by age, and duration of employment. Data on chronic respiratory symptoms, job history and daily activities were obtained by questionnaire. Lung functional testing of the examined subjects included baseline spirometry, and bronchodilator reversibility measurement.
Results :
Dairy farmers showed higher prevalence of overall respiratory symptoms, but significant difference was noticed for cough, phlegm, and dyspnea. Dairy farmers had more prevalent work-related respiratory symptoms, being significant for overall symptoms, cough, and phlegm. The mean baseline values of spirometric parameters were lower in dairy farmers, but significance was reported for FEV1/FVC%, MEF50, MEF75, and MEF25-75. Dairy farmers had significantly higher COPD prevalence than office controls (10.7% vs 2.7%, P = 0,049). Dairy farmers and office controls showed significant association between COPD and age over 45 years. Dairy farmers had a significant association between COPD and employment duration of over 20 years (P = 0.023), but also between COPD and work-related chronic respiratory symptoms (P = 0.041).
Conclusion :
The study findings favor the cause-effect association between job exposure to respiratory hazards, and development of persistent airway obstruction among dairy farmers.
