Effects of occupational dust exposure on the health status of portland cement factory workers

Introduction: Chronic exposure to Portland cement dust has been reported to lead to greater prevalence of various clinical conditions (includes both respiratory and non-respiratory). These conditions are consistently associated with the degree and duration of exposure. Regular use of appropriate personal protective equipment if made available at the work site could protect the cement factory workers from adverse health effects. Objective: To study the morbidity profile of the cement factory workers.Type of Study: Retrospective cohort study. Material and Methods: This study was conducted in the Portland Cement Factory in North Karnataka. Data was collected using predesigned questionnaire by personal interview method and clinical examination. A total of 64 male workers are randomly selected who are working in various departments like crushing, raw/cement mill, rotary kiln and packing department. Equal number of unexposed controls was selected from the area atleast 5 kms from the factory and those who are not exposed to cement dust in the past, who are matched for age, Socio economic status and smoking with the exposed population. Statistical Analysis: Chisquare test for qualitative data and unpaired t test for quantitative data using Epi info. Results: A total of 64 male workers and equal number of matched controls who are not exposed to the cement dust were included in the study. Among exposed maximum of 36% were employed in Crushing department, 25% each in Packing and cement/raw mill. Systolic and Diastolic blood pressure was found to be higher among the exposed, which is statistically highly significant (p<0.001). There is significant increase in weight among exposed (p<0.001). Maximum 29(45.3%) of the workers had stuffy nose and epistaxis when compared to unexposed with Relative risk(RR) of 2.6, followed by Dermatological complaints and lower respiratory complaints with RR of 2.18 and 2.3 respectively. Conclusion: Personal protective equipment should be made available at the workplace and educate the personnel to use them. Extensive research is necessary to improve the technical preventive measures that will reduce the risk of occupational health hazards.