The prevalence of occupational lung diseases among pickles factories’ workers in Palestine

Abstract EN

Working in pickles factories is now recognized to be a determinant of occupational lung diseases (OLD).

In Palestine, Many cases of pickles factories' workers were noticed to visit the hospitals frequently suffering from respiratory problems; including cough, dyspnea and chest pain.

Acetic acid, which is known to be harmful to the respiratory system, is used in these factories in Palestine without airway protection.

Moreover, there is a lack of researches conducted on the negative consequences of this career on the respiratory tract.

This research aims to outline the effects on certain respiratory parameters resulting from working in pickles factories.

A case-control study was performed with a population of 72 citizens.

27 workers in pickles factories were compared to 45 nonworkers in pickles factories.

Forced spirometry was used to measure the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and the FEV1/FVC ratio.

A comparison of these values along with the prevalence of restrictive and obstructive lung diseases between the two groups was performed.

It was observed that there is a significant increase in the prevalence of obstructive and restrictive lung diseases in pickles factories’ workers in comparison with non-workers (p=0.005).

The values of FEV1 (p=0.001) are significantly lower among workers in pickles factories in comparison with non-workers, whereas the decrease in the values of FVC among workers is not significant in comparison with non-workers.

We conclude that working in pickles factories leads to significant negative effects on the spirometrical readings, and an increasing prevalence of restrictive and obstructive lung diseases.

In sight of these results, we recommend that workers in these factories should avoid chemicals exposure using protective devices such as wearing masksand ensuring adequate aeration in these factories