PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dushantha Madegedara
AU  - Damith Nandadeva
AU  - Sampath Ranabahu
AU  - Samudani Dhanasekara
AU  - Hansa Kumara
TI  - Audit of respiratory health among brass workers in central Sri Lanka
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P1120
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1120.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1120.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - Background: Workers who are involved in brass industry are at a higher risk of occupational respiratory diseases as they exposed to heavy metal fumes particularly copper and zinc.Objective:To study respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function and radiological features in brass workersDesign: Descriptive cross sectional study.Methods: brass workers were recruited and screened for respiratory diseases. An individual questionnaire based interview, clinical examination, pulmonary function tests (PFT) and radiological investigations were performed. Results were analyzed using SPSS 16.1statistical software.Results: 21male workers of 33-77 years (48.05 ± 10.34), who had been in the industry for 180-600 months (260 ± 34.64), were recruited to the study. Respiratory symptoms included wheezing in 5(23.8%), breathlessness in3 (14.2%) and non-specific chest pain in 1(4.7%). Five were found to be smokers. There was no significant difference among symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects regarding the duration of exposure (p=0.431).X-ray abnormalities were detected in 47.6% of the workers which include nodular opacities, peripheral ring shadows and early ground glass appearance. Abnormal PFT were detected in 25%,(20% restrictive 5% mild obstructive ). The duration of exposure significantly correlated with the reduction of forced vital capacity (p=0.011, R= -0.600).55% used improvised face masks. No significant difference was detected in FVC (p=0.267) or FEV1/FVC (p=0.221) with those not using masks.Conclusion: In this preliminary study it was evident that increasing exposure to metal fumes results in a significant reduction in FVC. Analysis of symptoms is not a good screening tool. The small sample size was a limitation.