ArticleSaudi journal of biological sciences2020
Occupational exposure and respiratory health of workers at small scale industries.
Article in Saudi journal of biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Occupational health in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): A systematic review and call for comprehensive policy development.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Long-term occupational exposure to volatile organic compounds and progressive pulmonary function decline: a 5-year cohort study in the printing industry.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- An analysis of occupational exposure to particulate matter and erythrocyte morphological abnormalities among charcoal-grill restaurant workers.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence of occupational respiratory disease and its determinants among workers in major industrial sectors in Malaysia in 2023.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Towards the Instrumentation of Facemasks Used as Personal Protective Equipment for Unobtrusive Breathing Monitoring of Workers.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Quality of spirometry tests in the field of occupational health.BMC research notes · 2024Article
- Effects of occupational exposures on respiratory health in steel factory workers.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Embedded Electronic Sensor for Monitoring of Breathing Activity, Fitting and Filter Clogging in Reusable Industrial Respirators.Biosensors · 2022Article
- Targeted medical examinations for workers exposed to fumigants.Journal of occupational medicine and toxicology (London, England) · 2022Review
- Speech Impaired by Half Masks Used for the Respiratory Tract Protection.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Risk for lung-related diseases associated with welding fumes in an occupational population: Evidence from a Cox model.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- A Descriptive Study of Pulmonary Function Comparison Between Spot Welding and Assembly Line Workers in a Large Automotive Factory in Iran.Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicineArticle
- Investigating the Effect of Welding Fume in Pulmonary Function of Welders in an Automobile Industry.Indian journal of occupational and environmental medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Certain occupations like welding, painting, and vehicle repairing are associated with regular exposure to dust, exhausts, fuels, fumes, PM, and vapors of welding, solvents, and paint. Many studies have proved a reduction in lung functions due to exposure to these agents. The present study aims to assess and compare respiratory symptoms and pulmonary functions among exposed and non-exposed persons as well as suggests controls respectively. A cross-sectional case study was carried out among small scale industry workers having matched demographic and anthropometric parameters. Medical Research Council (MRC) questionnaire and Micro Direct computerized automated spirometer were used for recording respiratory ailments and pulmonary function tests (PFT) respectively. The percentages of mechanics, welders and painters were 40.9, 31.8, and 27.3 respectively. The highest reported respiratory symptom was chest tightness and whistling among exposed (22.7%) and unexposed (10%). Among study exposed cases, the occupational exposure was found as often (22.7%), sometimes (68.2%) and never (9.1%) while the reported use of airway protection (masks) was very low. Overall respiratory health of the exposed versus controls was reported as excellent (54.5% vs 73.4%), good (27.3% vs 23.3%) and average (18.2% vs 3.3%) respectively. The exposed group on contrary to control one has decreased mean values for FEV1 (3.12 vs 3.50), FVC (4.12 vs 4.43), FEV1/ FVC % (79.60 vs 80.79) and PEF (414.77 vs 523.16). The present study reveals that exposed workers are at increased risk of developing respiratory symptoms and decreased pulmonary functions as compared to unexposed. Such exposure research studies are instrumental in health status evaluation of workers. However, this area has been neglected by the researchers in Saudi Arabia. It is, thus, strongly recommended to carry out prospective studies to substantiate the study results including large sample size, background pollutants concentrations and biological monitoring. Control strategies should be adopted to reduce the vapor concentration in the ambient air, protect and promote respiratory health of workers.
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