Doctors Name Metalworking Occupations Most Predisposed to Respiratory Tract Inflammation

The RUDN University medic with colleagues from Kazakhstan and the USA studied the markers of inflammation in the respiratory tract in a metalworking occupational cohort. It is known that they inhale particles of metals and their oxides, and this can have negative health consequences. According to the composition of the exhaled air, doctors assessed which workers have a more pronounced risk of inflammatory processes in the lungs. The results are published in the International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health.

Newswise — To diagnose a patient with asthma and other diseases the doctors often assess the level of exhaled nitric oxide. It is normally present on exhalation, however, if there is inflammation in the respiratory tract, the amount of exhaled nitric oxide increases. People in metalworking are at risk of respiratory diseases because they have to inhale solid particles. The RUDN University doctors with colleagues from Kazakhstan and the USA applied an assessment of exhaled nitric oxide to find out which occupations have a greater risk of inflammation in the respiratory tract.

"Secondary metalworking carries exposure to relatively heavy levels of respirable particulate. We investigated the extent to which metalworking is associated with increased exhaled nitric oxide, an established inflammatory biomarker," said Doctor of Medical Sciences Denis Vinnikov, Professor of the Berezov Department of at RUDN University.

Doctors examined 80 employees of a metalwork plant in Kazakhstan. Of these, 41% were machine operators, 33% were welders and assemblers. Participants filled out a questionnaire in which they indicated concomitant diseases, possible additional sources of particulate matter, in addition to working conditions, attitudes to smoking and other data.

The amount of nitric oxide exhaled turned out to be associated with age, position, and smoking. Welders and installers had much more NO in the exhaled air than assemblers, even though the latter are faced with a larger-scale exposure to solid particles. Welders and assemblers had the exhaled NO average level of 44.8 ppb (particles per billion), with a norm of 25 ppb. In other groups, this value averaged about 24 ppb. Such results may indicate that welders and installers have inflammatory processes in the respiratory tract, which may not manifest symptoms in any way or when examining the function of external respiration.

" In a metalworking industrial cohort, welders/assemblers manifested significantly higher levels of NO. This may reflect respiratory tract inflammation associated with airborne exposures specific to this group.," said Denis Vinnikov.