Effect of cotton dust on pulmonary function among cotton textile workers

Background: The health of the individuals will largely depend upon the work environment. In many of the cotton and textile industries, workers are largely exposed to dust. In the light of rapid economic growth and individual progress, it becomes imperative that safety and health at the workplaces will have to be given due importance. Objective: To study the effect of cotton dust on the lung function test of cotton spinning mill workers Methods: The study was conducted on 50 controls and experimental group in Karimnagar town. The ventilating parameters considered for analysing the pulmonary function test (PFT) were Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 sec (FEV1 ), Percentage of Forced Volume in 1 sec (FEV1/FVC %), Maximum Mixed Expiratory Flow Rates for 25-75% (FEF 25-75%), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) and Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MW). Results: All studied parameters if PFT show significant decrease in experimental group as compared to control group. This shows that the cotton dust has adverse effect on the health of the cotton spinning mill workers. Conclusion: The continued exposure to cotton dust cause progressive impairment of lung functions and adversely affect the parameters such as FVC, FEV1, FEF 25-75%, PEFR and MW and causes restrictive and obstructive pattern of lung function impairment, which is also associated to the duration of exposure