| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2021 | Volume
: 7
| Issue : 4 | Page : 206-211 |
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Respiratory morbidities among wood workers: An epidemiological study from the informal sector
Aritra Kumar Bose1, Dilip Dhaku Kadam2
1 Department of Community Medicine, T.N. Medical College and B.Y.L. Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, Seth G.S. Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Dilip Dhaku Kadam
Aristo Bliss Apartment, Room No - 503, 5th Floor, Plot-15, Sector-27, Ranjanpada, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai - 410 210, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/IJAM.IJAM_8_21
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Introduction: Data on morbidities among workers working in the informal sector are scares; the current study attempts to determine the respiratory morbidities among wood workers and its severity.
Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted in the field practice area of a medical college's urban health center in a metropolitan city. One hundred and five wood workers from the study area were recruited by complete enumeration method. Data were collected using one to one interview method. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) of every worker was measured using a peak expiratory flow meter. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.
Results: Respiratory morbidities such as cough (61%), chest tightness (15.2%), and breathlessness (18.98%) were found among the workers. Nearly 68.56% of wood workers had abnormal PEFR. Decreased PEFR was significantly associated with lack of ventilation at the workplace, increased duration of work, use of electricity driven tools and tenure of the worker's job. Using logistic regression, we devised a model that shows abnormal PEFR is significantly dependent on work duration, hours of work per day, category of job, use of protective devices, and electrical instruments.
Conclusions: The study pointed at a high prevalence of respiratory morbidities among wood workers. It also pointed out that the problem is in implementing occupational health standards already laid by international labor organizations (ILO).
The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Medical knowledge, Patient care, Practice-based learning and improvement, Systems-based practice.
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