Title

Effect of cotton dust on lungs among female workers in cotton industry in northern Gujarat, India

Authors

Gnanadesigan Ekambaram^1,*, Alkesh Vara¹, Shah Mansi Nileshkumar², N. Sivasubramanian³

Affiliation

1Department of Physiology, Nootan Medical College & Research Centre, Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India; 2IIIrd Year MBBS Student, Nootan Medical College & Research Centre, Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India; 3Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Nootan College of Nursing, Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Gnanadesigan Ekambaram - E-mail: edesigan_phy@nootanmedical.edu.in

Alkesh Vara - E-mail: avara_phy@nootanmedical.edu.in

Mansi Nileshkumar Shah - E-mail: s.mansi@nootanmedical.edu.in

N. Sivasubramanian - E-mail: Sn.fn@spu.ac.in

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received December 28, 2021; Revised March 27, 2022; Accepted March 31, 2022, Published March 31, 2022

Byssinosis is a disabling occupational lung disease caused by cotton dust. It is a well known occupational respiratory disease in cotton industry workers caused by cotton dust pollution. Many studies have been documented the effects of cotton dust on pulmonary function among workers employed in cotton-spinning mills. However, little data exist on the prevalence of this disorder in female workers particularly in western part of India. The present study was conducted to analyze the effects of exposure to cotton dust on pulmonary functions among female workers. The study was designed to assess the effects of exposure to cotton dust on lung functions among female cotton industry workers. Study group comprises 50 Female workers of cotton industry and control group comprises 50 age matched females who were neither worked in cotton industry nor exposed to cotton dust. Information was collected using standardized questionnaires, physical examination and spirometric measurements. Student’s T-test was used to find the difference between spirometric parameters. All the respiratory parameters (FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio, FEF 25-75 % PEFR and MVV) were reduced in cotton industry workers as compared with control subjects (p<0.0001) and no significant difference of SpO2 between groups. Cotton dust exposure makes huge impact on respiratory parameters of the cotton industry workers. This deterioration in respiratory health deteriorates with increasing duration of exposure. The health hazards caused by cotton dust should be controlled by creating awareness among the workers & employers.

Keywords

Cotton dust, cotton industry workers, pulmonary function tests

Citation

Ekambaram et al. Bioinformation 18(3): 255-260 (2022)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.