Household solid fuel use and pulmonary function in an urban population in Shanghai, China.

Objectives: We examined the association between household solid fuel exposure and lung function in a densely populated district in urban Shanghai, China.

Methods: Spirometry was performed in 12 506 subjects, aged 18 and over, residing in the Putuo District in Shanghai, China, in a cross-sectional survey. Exposure to solid fuel use at home was assessed by an administered questionnaire, estimating duration and total amount of solid fuel use at home during the lifetime.

In-home solid fuel use and cardiovascular disease: a cross-sectional analysis of the Shanghai Putuo study.

Background: Although recent research evidence suggests an association between household air pollution from solid fuel use, such as coal or biomass, and cardiovascular events such as hypertension, little epidemiologic data are available concerning such exposure effects on cardiovascular endpoints other than hypertension. We explored the association between in-home solid fuel use and self-reported diagnoses of cardiovascular endpoints, such as hypertension, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and diabetes.

Methods: We analyzed 14,068 Chinese adults, aged 18 years and older.

Long-term effects of work cessation on respiratory health of textile workers: a 25-year follow-up study.

Rationale: The degree to which chronic respiratory health effects caused by exposures to cotton dust and endotoxin is reversible after cessation of textile work is unknown.

Objectives: To investigate changes in lung function and respiratory symptoms after cessation of textile work and to determine whether past exposure to cotton dust and endotoxin or smoking history modify the associations.

Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study consisting of 447 cotton textile workers exposed to cotton dust and 472 unexposed silk textile workers, with a 25-year follow-up.

Cross-shift airway responses and long-term decline in FEV1 in cotton textile workers.

Rationale: Acute airway response, measured as cross-shift change in FEV(1), to cotton dust may lead to subsequent chronic loss of lung function in exposed workers.

Objectives: To explore the association between the magnitude and frequency of cross-shift change and chronic loss of FEV(1).

Methods: Four hundred eight cotton workers and 417 silk workers from Shanghai textile mills were observed prospectively for 20 years, with cross-shift measurements at baseline and follow-up surveys at approximate 5-year intervals.

Is chronic airway obstruction from cotton dust exposure reversible?

Background: Exposure to cotton dust is known to cause chronic airway obstruction, but there is little information on whether the obstructive impairment is reversible after the exposure stops.

Methods: Longitudinal changes in lung function were evaluated among 429 cotton textile workers and 449 silk workers in Shanghai, China, beginning in 1981. Both active and retired workers were tested every 4 to 6 years for 15 years.

Lung function, airway reactivity, and atopy in newly hired female cotton textile workers.

To assess changes in lung function and airway reactivity resulting from exposure to cotton dust, and the role of atopic status in these changes, the authors observed a group of 225 newly hired Chinese textile workers for 1 yr. All workers were female, lifelong nonsmokers, and none of them had been exposed previously to cotton or other occupational dust. Atopic status was determined at baseline.

Follow-up study of respiratory health of newly-hired female cotton textile workers.

Background: Numerous studies have investigated adverse effects of exposure to cotton dust on respiratory health, but very limited longitudinal data are available with regard to the early pulmonary response to cotton dust. Moreover, the adverse effects of occupational exposure to cotton dust have been difficult to separate from the confounding effects of smoking. This setting provided a unique opportunity to evaluate early respiratory effects in newly hired and non-smoking female textile workers.