Skip to main content
Log in

Long-term exposure to cement dust and later hospitalization due to respiratory disease

  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

The relationship between exposure to cement dust in a Portland cement factory and later hospitalization due to respiratory disease and in particular chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) was examined in a cohort initially examined in 1974. A total of 546 men with different lengths of employment in the cement factory were compared with 857 randomly sampled men of the same age from the same geographical area. Information on hospitalization was obtained from a nationwide register administered by the Danish National Board of Health. During a 9-year, 8-month period, 7.8% of the total population studied had been admitted to hospital at least once because of respiratory disease and 4.3% had been admitted because of COLD. Cement workers had no increased rates of hospitalization when compared with other blue collar workers from the random sample or the whole random sample. A vague tendency towards increasing rates of hospitalization due to COLD with increasing duration of exposure to cement dust up to 30 years was found. Given at least one hospitalization, exposure to cement dust was not related to the accumulated number of days in hospital in the observation period. We conclude that long-term exposure to cement dust does not lead to higher morbidity of severe respiratory disease than other types of blue collar work.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abrons HL, Petersen MR, Sanderson WT, Engelberg AL, Harber P (1988) Symptoms, ventilatory function, and environmental exposures in Portland cement workers. Br J Ind Med 45:368–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Bazas T (1980) Effects of occupational exposure to dust on the respiratory system of cement workers. J Soc Occup Med 30:31–36

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Sewefy AZ, Awad S, Metwally M (1970) Spirometric measurements in an Egyptian Portland cement factory. J Egypt Med Assoc 53:179–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Guiliani V, Raffaele B (1955) Occupational hazards for cement workers. Med Lav 46:715–724

    Google Scholar 

  • Jürgensen HJ, Frølund C, Gustafsen J, Mosbech H, Guldhammer B (1984) Registration of diagnoses in a national patient register. Preliminary assessment of the validity of the register. Ugeskr Laeger 146:3303–3308

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalacic I (1973a) Chronic nonspecific lung disease in cement workers. Arch Environ Health 26:78–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalacic I (1973b) Ventilatory lung function in cement workers. Arch Environ Health 26:84–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Medical Research Council's committee on the aetiology of chronic bronchitis (1960) Standardized questionnaires on respiratory symptoms. Br Med J 2:1665

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen FV, Borchsenius L, Holstein B, Sølvsteen P (1977) Lung function and long-term exposure to cement dust. Scand J Respir Dis 58:252–264

    Google Scholar 

  • Saric M, Kalacic I, Holetic A (1976) Follow-up of ventilatory lung function in a group of cement workers. Br J Ind Med 33:18–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Vestbo J, Knudsen KM, Rasmussen FV (1988) Should we continue using questionnaires on breathlessness in epidemiologic surveys? Am Rev Respir Dis 137:1114–1118

    Google Scholar 

  • Vestbo J, Rasmussen FV (1989) Respiratory symptoms and FEV1, as predictors of hospitalization and medication in the following 12 years due to respiratory disease. Eur Respir J 2:710–715

    Google Scholar 

  • Vyskocil J (1962) The problem of chronic bronchitis in cement workers. Rev Czech Med 8:38–52

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (1967) International classification of diseases, 1965. 8th revision. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Winsløw JJB (1975) Time and causation in studies of long-term exposure to environmental factors. Arch Environ Health 30:417–422

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

This study was supported by grants from The Danish Medical Research Council (12-5877) and the Knud Højgaard Foundation (7818)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vestbo, J., Rasmussen, F.V. Long-term exposure to cement dust and later hospitalization due to respiratory disease. Int. Arch Occup Environ Heath 62, 217–220 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379436

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379436

Key words

Navigation