Respiratory symptoms and ventilatory function of the Bakery worker in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

A total of five hundred Bakery workers were studied to assess occupational induced lung impairment as a result of exposure to grain and flour dust. Occupational related symptoms were recorded using structured questionnaire. Age and sex matched controls consisting of 500 University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan workers and students were used. They were apparently healthy and work and live at places free of fumes and smoke. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was measured in all subjects. However, full spirometry work up was done on 100 bakery workers and 100 control subjects that had been selected using simple random sampling technique. The most frequent pulmonary symptoms among the bakery workers were sneezing and running nose (53.30%) and periodic breathlessness/chest tightness (23.16%) while the symptom of cough/phlegm present in (21.53%) of the subjects. The mean PEFR of the bakery workers (463.20 + 51.39 L/min) was significantly lower (PWest African Journal of Medicine Vol.21(4) 2002: 316-318