Longitudinal lung function decline and wood dust exposure in the Danish furniture industry

¹ Dept of Occupational Medicine, Region Hospital Skive, Denmark; and Dept of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, Denmark
² Dept of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Institute of Public Health, Aarhus University, Denmark
³ Dept of Occupational Medicine, Region Hospital Skive, Denmark
⁴ Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Nordsjaelands Hospital, Denmark

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gitte.jacobsen{at}sygehusviborg.dk.

	Abstract

To investigate the relation between change in lung function and cumulative exposure to wood dust.

1, 112 woodworkers (927 males, 185 females) and 235 reference workers (104 males, 185 females) participated in a 6 year longitudinal study. FEV₁, FVC, height and weight were measured and questionnaire data on respiratory symptoms, wood dust exposure, and smoking habits were collected. Cumulative inhalable wood dust exposure was assessed using a study specific job exposure matrix (JEM) and exposure time.

The median (range) for cumulative wood exposure was 3.75 (0–7.55) mg year·m^-3. A dose-response relationship between cumulative wood dust exposure and percent annual decrease in FEV₁ was suggested for female workers, and this was confirmed in a linear regression model adjusted for confounders including smoking, height and age. An additional decrease of -14.50 ml·year^-1 and -27.97 ml·year^-1 was revealed for women exposed to 3.75–4.71 mg year·m^-3 or to >4.71 mg year·m^-3 respectively compared to non/low exposed females. For women, a positive trend between wood dust exposure and the cumulative incidence proportion of FEV₁/FVC <70% was suggested (p=0.08).

In this low exposed cohort female woodworkers had an accelerated decline in lung function, which may be clinically relevant.

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