Study of Pulmonary Function Tests of Traffic Policemen In Jammu Region

Occupational hazards on health owing to environmental pollution have recently received some attention in public health management and occupational medicine but the mitigation measures for those exposed leaves a lot to be desired. Urbanization & industrialization coupled with the ever increasing use of automobiles are major source of environmental pollution. Airborne dust constitutes most significant source of ultrafine particles in urban environment. (1) Automobile exhaust is a major hazard for traffic policemen, autorickshaw drivers, roadside vendors etc. Contaminants in automobile exhaust are oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, respirable particles, lead and sulfur dioxide (2) which results in a health problem. Studies have indicated that airborne pollutants cause changes in the pulmonary function tests (PFT) due to injury to airways and parenchyma in those exposed because lungs are the major site of contact between body and environment. (3,4) The effects of air pollution include chronic cough, wheezing, breathlessness, decreased body defense mechanism against foreign material damage to lung tissue and carcinogenesis. (5,6) Number of studies have shown that ventilatory lung values are related to age, sex, anthropometric parameters, ethnic origin, smoking habit, occupational exposure, environmental conditions and methods used (7-10). Numerous studies have recorded deterioration in the lung function tests among the road side workers. However most of the studies originate from the west and few studies are available from Indian setup. Moreover, there is limited published data regarding PFT (Pulmonary function Test) abnormalities in traffic policemen who are exposed to air pollution during duty hours. It was in this context that the present study was carried out in urban and rural areas of Introduction Abstract The present study was carried out to assess the lung functions of traffic policemen in Jammu region. A cross sectional study was carried out among 100 traffic policemen and compared with healthy persons with the subgroup comparison among rural and urban areas. Lung function like FVC, FEV1 , FEV3,PEFR & MVV on computerized spirometry. The results revealed that all lung functions were lower than the healthy controls and differences were statistically marked in FVC,FEV1, ,PEFR. Intergroup comparison between rural and urban revealed that police personnel's posted in rural areas had better lung function than urban counterpart which varied among each other statistically significantly .(FVC -0.04,FEV10.0003,FEV3-0.0001,MVV-0.003,PEFR-0.03). The traffic policemen exposed to air pollution have lower lung function than the healthy persons and those posted at rural areas have better lung function