| Objectives: To evaluate the occupational hazards of a RCFs manufacturing factory,to estimate the health status of the workers in the factory,and to explore the potential effect of RCFs fiber on oxidative damage.Methods: Annals detections of occupational hazards were carried out in the past 5 years by using the sampling and monitoring methods recommended by the national occupational health standards.The total dust concentration and fiber concentration were determined by membrane weight method and direct counting method,respectively.Workplace noise and heat were measured by using individual dosimeter and wet bulb globe thermometer,respectively.Standard questionnaires were administered to collect information on demographics,occupational history,and lifestyle.General physical examinations and occupational health examination were conducted annually.The urinary 8-OHdG level,which was a indicator of DNA oxidative damage,was determined by using high performance liquid chromatography with electro-chemical detection(HPLC-EC)from 5 mL of fasting morning urine.Normally distributed numerical variables were presented as mean and standard deviation and were compared using Student′s t-test,whereas categorical variables were reported as percentages and were compared using the Chi-square test.The log-transformed urinary 8-OHdG levels among different subgroups were compared using Student′s t-test.Logistic regression model was used to estimated the association between smoking,fibre exposure and elevated urinary 8-OHdG level.Results: The results of 5-years occupational hazards monitoring showed that the main occupational hazards in the RCFs factory were productive dust,noise and heat.The pass rates of productive dust concentration in the last 5 years were 37.5%,58.5%,57.8%,61.8%,and 64.9%,respectively.The highest total dust concentration was detected in the row material treating workshop,followed by the jilt silk workshop and other productive workshops,while the maintenance positions showed the lowest total dust concentration.The pass rates of noise level were 90.0%,84.3%,88.6%,95.0% and 100% in the last 5 years,respectively.The jilt silk workshop and other productive workshops had the statistical significantly highest noise level.During the 5-year follow-up,17 workers were newly diagnosed with abnormal chest X-ray after the exclusion of workers with previous lung injury,and the percentages of abnormal chest X-ray were slightly higher among front-line workers(7.14%)and maintainers(9.09%),compared with administrators(5.26%).But the difference was of no statistical significance and the potential reasons were relatively short exporsure time(mean 8.9 years)and small population sample.A total of 78 workers were diagnosed with lung function decline,and the percentage of lung function decline among front-line workers was significantly higher than that among administrators(P<0.05);while the maintainers hold higher lung function decline percentage than the administrators without statistical significance.The urine 8-OHdG level slightly increased with the elevated fiber concentration among both smokers and non-smokers,and the OR between fiber concentration and increased urine 8-OHdG level was 1.077(95% CI 0.632-1.837).In the same fiber concentration subgroup,smokers showed higher urinary 8-OHdG level than non-smokers,and the OR for elevated urinary 8-OHdG level was 3.644(95%CI 1.730-7.675)among smokers,compared with non-smokers.Conclusions: The major occupational hazards in the RCFs manufacturing factory were productive dust and noise.Exporsure to productive RCFs dust might contribute to abnormal chest X-ray and the declined lung function.Further research with longer exposure time and larger population was needed to evaluated the association between fiber concentration and 8-OHdG level. |
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