Epidemiologic survey of respiratory symptoms among workers of small grain mills and others

Abstract

Abstract: The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was compared in a grain dust exposed group of 57 grain mill workers and grain traders and an unexposed group of 181 civic, shop, snack bar and municipal labor workers in Kola Diba town using standard medical and occupational questionnaire. The two groups were comparable by age, sex and prevalence of smoking. Symptoms of expectoration and dyspnoea, cough, wheeze, chest tightness, sneezing and rhinnorhoea occurred significantly higher in the exposed than in the unexposed group. Recognizing Ethiopia’s predominant agricultural economy and an unavoidable expansion of small grain grinding mills in rural cooperatives and townships, the paper attempts to indicate the need for documenting the level of grain dust pollution and investigating its occupational health hazard. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1998;12(3):213-215]