Effect of suspended particulate matter (PM 2.5) emissions on pulmonary function of bakery workers using fossil fuel in Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

The respiratory tract is often the site of injury from occupational exposure. Flour dust is a respiratory sensitizer and chronic exposure to it could affect the pulmonary functions and stimulate allergic responses. This study was designed tocompare the effect of particulate matter (PM) 2.5μm dust exposure on pulmonary function of bread bakery workers exposed to flour dust and office workers not exposed to flour dust in Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria. 100 adult non-smoking male workers from bread bakery industries were selected for our study. 100 age and sexmatched healthy subjects unexposed to such an occupational hazard were taken as controls. The results were analyzed by using the student’s unpaired t-test in Microsoft excels package (2013). In this study, bakery workers showedgreater decline in FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC ratio which is statistically significant,suggesting obstructive pulmonary disorder