Pulmonary function and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among people living around wazo hill cement factory in Dar es salaam

Background:The contribution of cement dust to air pollution is widely recognized, but relatively few studies have looked at the respiratory health status of subjects living near cement dust factories. Many studies have concentrated on the cement factory workers. This study aimed at determining the pulmonary function and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms among people living around Wazo Hill cement factory as compared to those living far away from the factory. Methods:A descriptive cross-sectional comparative study was done in which 775 subjects were studied. Three hundred and ninety two subjects living around Wazo Hill cement factory formed the exposed group and 383 subjects living at Temeke SabaSaba, 37krn from Wazo Hill Cement factory formed the unexposed group. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to obtain sociodemographic characteristics and history of respiratory symptoms. The pulmonary function indices of FVC, FEVI and FEVI/FVC were obtained using a bedside microspirometer. The measurements of height and weight were obtained from each subject. Results: Of the total 775 individuals who met the inclusion criteria, there were 114 out of 392 (29%) exposed subjects who had chronic cough as compared to 70 out of 383 (18.28%) unexposed and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.01 ). The exposed individuals had a significantly higher prevalence than controls for chronic sputum production, wheeze, and chronic bronchitis with the prevalence of 41.8%, 21.9010, and 16% versus 1l%, 11.1% and 7.6% respectively The exposed subjects had significantly lower FVC, FEVI and the ratio of FEVI to FVC, than the unexposed adjusted for age, height and smoking. Conclusions: This study has showed that people living around Wazo Hill cement factory have a high risk of developing chronic respiratory symptoms as well as reduction of their pulmonary function as compared to those living far away from the factor