BYSSINOSIS AMONG TEXTILE MILL WORKERS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN AHMEDABAD, INDIA

Introduction: Byssinosis has been reported from most countries with a textile industry. While the prevalence is decreasing in developed countries, it continues to be high in developing countries. Textile dust appears as dust in the form of fine fibres in the air and these fibres get deposited in the alveoli leading to respiratory morbidities. The exposure of workers can occur during ginning, blow, carding, weaving, spinning and packaging. Hence, a study was conducted in Ahmedabad among textile mill workers with the objective of assessing the magnitude of byssinosis.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in five mills in Ahmedabad during August 2011 to August 2012 and a total of 889 workers were examined. A pre-designed, pre-tested questionnaire was used to record information. It included Socio-demographic variables, detailed history of work exposure, addiction history and general health status. Questionnaire for the assessment of respiratory morbidities was based on Medical Research Council Questionnaire (MRCQ-UK) and American Thoracic Society Questionnaire (ATS-Q) modified for Indian settings. Physical examination was done on all workers & pulmonary function test was conducted on workers with symptoms of respiratory morbidities. Grading of byssinosis was done according to schilling’s criteria.

Results: Overall prevalence of byssinosis was 13.1% (117 workers) and overall proportion of chronic bronchitis was 3.9% (35 workers). Out of 190 smokers, 41 (21.6%) had byssinosis. Byssinosis was 2.26 times more common among smokers as compared to non-smokers. Similarly, chronic bronchitis was 2.9 times more common in smokers as compared with non-smokers. Workers with >20 years of cotton dust exposure had overall compromised lung function as compared to those with less duration. However, this difference was statistically insignificant.

Conclusion: Despite the surrounding controversy regarding increasing duration and increase prevalence of byssinosis, present study reported cases of byssinosis even with lesser duration (as low as 5 years) of work exposure. Fourteen percent workers in the present study had < 5 years exposure and were from ginning sections. Theoretically, it is rare to find byssinosis with such less duration. But this may suggest high levels of cotton dust in ginning sections.