Enterobhsis in an Orphanage

A cross sectional study was carried out to evaluate the effect of rice husk dust in rice millers in Malaysia. Altogether 69 workers participated in this study. They were interviewed using standardized questionnaires and lung function tests were performed. Chest tightness was among the common symptoms (34.9%) complained by workers. Age, duration of employment and smoking status were among the factors associated with respiratory symptoms (p < 0.01). Lung function tests revealed some degree of impairment compared to the healthy population. SOUTHEAST ASIAN J TROP MED PUBLIC HEALTH Vol 31 No. 3 September 2000 576 with mean age of 40.17 years ± 8.86 (SD) were assessed. Mean duration of employment was 12.42 (± 7.31 SD) years. There were 58.7% of male workers who were current smoker. Since there was only a small number of femal (6) workers, they were excluded from further analysis. Respiratory symptoms Symptoms were grouped into 4 main categories namely morning cough, morning cough with phlegm, chest tightness and shortness of breath. Chest tightness was the most common symptom (34.9%) claimed by the workers, followed by morning phlegm (31.7%), shortness of breath (31.7%) and morning cough (19.0%) (Fig l). Each of the symptoms was analyzed whether it had relationship with age group, duration of employment and smoking by univariate analysis. It revealed that both age (RR = 4.35, p = 0.010) and duration of employment (RR = 4.52, p = 0.012) had significant relationship with shortness of breath whereas smoking had relationship with moming phlegm (RR = 3.68, p = 0.023) and moming cough (RR = 5.56, p = 0.023) (Table l). Table 1 Relationship between each respiratory symptom and age, duration of employment and smoking. Age group Duration of Smoking employment Chest tightness χ = 3.742l df = 1, p = 0.053 0.049, 1, 0.825 0.328, 1, 0.567 RR = 2.73 (95%CI : 0.97 7.7) 1.12 (0.41 3.05) 1.34 (0.49 3.64) Morning phlegm 0.369, 1, 0.543 0.487, 1, 0.485 5.175, 1, 0.023 0.72 (0.25 2.06) 0.69 (0.24 1.96) 3.68 (1.16 11.72) Shortness of breath 6.64, 1, 0.010 6.317, 1, 0.012 0.461, 1, 0.497 4.35 (1.36 13.90) 4.52 (1.32 15.48) 1.44 (0.50 4.14) Morning cough 0.003, 1, 0.956 0.019, 1, 0.889 5.156, 1, 0.023 0.97 (0.28 3.35) 1.09 (0.31 3.86) 5.56 (1.12 27.65) Chi-square tests and Relative Risk (RR) calculations; Age group: 40 and below versus 41 and above; Duration of employment: 11 and below versus 12 and above; Smoking: yes versus no Fig 1–The distribution of symptoms experienced by workers. 40%