Acute lung function change in cement dust exposed workers

BACKGROUND. In recent years it has been suggested an association between the occupational exposure to cement dust and the occurrence of short term respiratory effects. This relationship still remains controversial, mainly for what concern low dose exposures to cement dust. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the daily fluctuations of cement dust exposure and the lung function changes in workers employed with various job titles in a cement factory. METHODS: 15 workers randomly selected and representative of the entire population of cement production workers have been studied for 3 consecutives days. For each worker enrolled in the study we measured daily personal dust exposure and possible short-term pulmonary effects (asking questions about daily symptoms and recording flow-volume parameters both pre-shift and post-shift work). RESULTS: We did not find evidence of association between daily cement dust exposure fluctuation and short term respiratory effects. CONCLUSION: It has to be said that the main reason for the lack of effects between cement dust exposure and lung function decrement in our study may be linked to the low levels of personal dust exposure. Anyway, due to the little sample size of workers enrolled we cannot still make conclusive statements