Table 6 - uploaded by Peter Sherwood Burge
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Prevalence of rhinitis-eye irritation, headache, and rash related to sex and workplace: total and % of respondants. (Percentages in parentheses)
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Workers in a modern electronics factory were surveyed by questionnaire and lung function testing to see if there was evidence of widespread work-related respiratory symptoms. Of the responding workers exposed to solder flux fumes on the shop floor, 22% had work-related breathlessness or wheeze or both. Exposed workers had a lower FEV1 and FVC than...
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Objective
To review the literature on respiratory effects of persulfate salts (PS) or hair bleaches in hairdressers and animal models exploring mechanisms behind PS-induced asthma.
Methods
A systematic review according to the PRISMA guidelines was performed. Studies published from 2000 to July 2021 that fulfilled predefined eligibility criteria we...
Citations
... los estudios transversales basados en la fuerza de trabajo son la fuente más común de estimación de frecuencia en lugares de trabajo con riesgo. la Tabla 25 muestra algunos de los resultados de estudios de prevalencia de diversas industrias (ishizaki et al. 1973;Butcher et al. 1977;Burge et al. 1979;Gross 1980;slovak y Hill 1981;slovak 1981;Cartier et al. 1984;Chan Yeung et al. 1984;Yach et al. 1985;vedal et al. 1986;Malo y Cartier 1988;venables et al. 1989;Malo et al. 1994;Cullinan et al. 1994a;Cullinan et al. 1994b;vandenplas et al. 1995;irsigler et al. 1999;Potter et al. 2001;Jeebhay et al. 2005). ...
... Work related rhinitis was also present in 22% of exposed workers. The most important factor for this rhinitis is sensitivity to colophony fumes released from solder flux during soldering process (17). ...
Objective(s)To determine the potential toxic effects of manual soldering flux cored solder wire on lung of the rat as an experimental model.Materials and MethodsA total number of 48 adult male rats were divided into experimental (n= 30) and control (n= 18) groups. Based on exposure time to solder fume, each group was further subdivided into 2, 4 and 6 week subgroups. Rats of experimental groups were exposed to fume in exposure chamber for 1 hour/day (Research Center of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, 12 Apr 2005 to 14 May 2005). The amount of fumes were measured daily by standard methods. At the end of experiment, lung specimens were collected from each experimental and control subgroups. Tissue samples were processed routinely and thickness of epithelium in bronchioles and interalveolar septas were measured in stained microscopic slides. Obtained data were analyzed by SPSS.ResultsStatistical analysis of data for thickness of epithelium in bronchioles showed that there was only a significant difference between 4 week experimental and control subgroups (P< 0.001). Analysis of data for thickness of interalveolar septa showed statistically significant differences between experimental and control subgroups of 4 and 6 weeks (P< 0.001). Histological examination was also revealed an inflammatory process in bronchioles and disorganized architecture in alveoli of lung in experimental subgroups.Conclusion
The result showed that solder fume can change the normal architectures of epithelium in bronchioles and alveoli of the lung and it seems that the severities of changes were dependent on the exposure time.
... Colophony fumes as work-related exposures are formed from solder fluxes during soldering and are known causes of OR. 25 Often, they were suspected but rarely caused OR in our study. ...
Evaluations of rhinitis reactions in inhalation challenges (ICs) are sparse compared with research on nasal challenges. This study evaluates the outcome of IC tests in assessing occupational rhinitis (OR). It presents the largest rhinologic IC data in the literature, analyzing the exposure method of various agents causing OR and their relation to asthma.
Challenge tests performed on 829 individuals with suspected cases of OR were reviewed. Results from both exposures with occupational agents (n = 1229) and placebo (n = 838) were evaluated.
A total of 10% of the occupational ICs (n = 123) were positive, suggesting OR, and 13% (n = 161) showed asthmatic reaction in the same challenge. In control challenges 2% showed rhinitis and 6% showed asthma symptoms. The most common agents tested were molds (160 tests), flours, and animal fodders (115 tests) and formaldehyde (122 tests). Obeche wood dust and latex produced positive nasal reactions the most frequently, followed by acid anhydrides.
Although IC is a resource-intensive methodology, the evaluation of nasal symptoms and signs together with bronchial reactions saves time and expense compared with the organization of multiple individual challenges. We encourage the simultaneous evaluation of both nasal and bronchial reactions in IC tests.
... 16 However, some of the studies grouped welders together with solderers and electronic assemblers, 12,13,16 and solderers are often exposed to fluxes containing colophony, which is known to cause asthma. 17 It seems very unlikely that persons with asthma would choose an occupation with All 2 18 6 1 9 9 2 6 Non-smokers 2 10 2 11 5 16 Smokers 0 8 4 8 4 10 www.ijoeh.com • INT J OCCUP ENVIRON HEALTH a known exposure to several air pollutants, as in the welding environment. ...
Welders inhale gases and respirable particles. To investigate the relationship between fluoride exposure and respiratory symptoms in welders using basic electrodes containing calcium fluoride, 63 railroad track welders were interviewed. Fluoride was measured in post-shift urine samples. Seventeen welders reported respiratory symptoms related to welding fume exposures. Respiratory symptoms were somewhat more common with increasing concentrations of fluoride in urine. The association between welding fume exposure and respiratory symptoms seems related more to fluorides than to other particles among welders using basic electrodes.
... Occupational asthma caused by exposure to laboratory animals, one of the most widely appreciated causes of occupational asthma, has been found to be associated with atopy (in this case defined as a 3 mm wheal, at 10 min, to intradermal skin testing with one or more of three common allergens) [17]. This and other case-control studies [18,19] have found a higher prevalence of atopy in exposed workers who developed asthma than in those who did not, indicating that atopy can be a risk factor for occupational asthma caused by certain substances. However, atopic status has not been shown to be related to the occurrence of asthma from other substances, such as the asthma caused by the plicatic acid of Western Red Cedar wood dust [20]. ...
Information gathered through epidemiologic studies of occupational asthma is useful for the establishment of prevalence or incidence data for public health purposes, which can be used to determine which industry or workplace requires assistance from preventive services. These studies address etiologic questions regarding exposure and host risk factors. They can establish an exposure-response relationship that provides scientific basis for setting environmental control measures. They also examine the effectiveness of preventive 5 control measures. In the conduct of epidemiologic studies of occupational asthma, choosing the type of study to answer the study question is important. Observational studies have predominated in studies of occupational asthma. Although these types of studies have provided much useful data, they are associated with the problem of the healthy-worker effect. In the future, use of more robust epidemiologic study designs should foster a greater understanding of occupational asthma.
... Occupational asthma caused by exposure to laboratory animals, one of the most widely appreciated causes of occupational asthma, has been found to be associated with atopy (in this case defined as a 3 mm wheal, at 10 min, to intradermal skin testing with one or more of three common allergens) [17]. This and other case-control studies [18,19] have found a higher prevalence of atopy in exposed workers who developed asthma than in those who did not, indicating that atopy can be a risk factor for occupational asthma caused by certain substances. However, atopic status has not been shown to be related to the occurrence of asthma from other substances, such as the asthma caused by the plicatic acid of Western Red Cedar wood dust [20]. ...
With the accelerating pace of new knowledge about occupational asthma, systematic epidemiological approaches have yielded important new insights into its clinical characteristics. Such questions as 'what proportion of all cases of asthma are caused by occupational exposures?' and 'is occupational asthma incidence rising?' can now be answered. Surveillance programmes estimate the number of exposed individuals and the number of incident cases, allowing us to perceive the magnitude of the health problem. Although occupational asthma is a relatively common illness, very little is known about quantitative exposure-response relationships. Epidemiological techniques can quantify the importance of predisposing factors, such as atopy or cigarette smoking, in determining individual risk factors for occupational asthma. Still to be determined are the major, possibly genetic factors which make occupational asthma an 'idiosyncratic' illness, affecting only a minority of those with equivalent exposures in the workplace. The goal of applying epidemiological techniques to the study of occupational asthma is ultimately to identify more effective means to prevent its occurrence.
... The factory is in a modem industrial estate and employed 914 workers and managers at the time of the first survey, which was a prevalence study of symptoms and lung function. Of the workers on the shop floor, 22% had work-related wheeze or breathlessness, or both, but work-related symptoms were uncommon in the other workers (Burge et al, 1979). The second survey was an analysis of the records of the last 1339 workers leaving the factory for all reasons. ...
... In addition, workers leaving for health reasons did so after a longer period of employment than workers leaving for other reasons, suggesting that the high labour turnover protected most workers from developing respiratory disease (Perks et al, 1979). The third survey reported here has derived all its workers from the main shop floor of factory 1, 91 % of whom were contacted in the first survey (Burge et al, 1979). Our objectives were to relate the respiratory symptoms of the cases to their work exposure, and to answer the following questions: (1) Are there easily identifiable features in a worker that favour the development of workrelated respiratory symptoms? ...
This is the final part of a study carried out to investigate occupational asthma due to sensitivity to colophony fumes (a component of soldering flux) in an electronics factory. Fifty-eight workers with occupational asthma employed on the main shop floor were investigated. In them the interval between first exposure and sensitisation varied widely with a group becoming sensitive within one to two years of first exposure, and another group whose sensitisation was delayed for three to 23 years. Once sensitised the interval between arriving at work and the onset of daily symptoms seemed to be bimodally distributed, resembling the immediate and late asthmatic symptoms seen on provocation testing. Twenty-three out of 58 had no definite daily deterioration at work but improved at the weekends. Wheeze and breathlessness occurred in the evenings at home in most, and one-third were woken by breathlessness at least on some nights. These 58 cases were compared with 48 controls without occupational asthma who had worked on the same shop floor for at least four years. Mean levels of FEV1 were significantly worse in the cases before exposure on Monday morning. The cases also had more than twice as much sickness absence as controls. FEV1 fell by more than 10% over a working shift in 33% of cases and 5% of controls. Atopy (a positive skin prick test to one or more common allergens) and a past history of allergic disease were weakly but significantly associated with being a case. The effects of smoking and a family history of allergic disease were trivial. Prick testing with an antigen derived from the colophony in the solder flux was completely negative, but cases and controls had significantly raised levels of total IgM compared with blood bank controls, perhaps suggesting some previously unrecognised immunological process.
... A prevalence study of an electronics factory has shown work-related respiratory symptoms in 22% of those exposed to solder flux fumes (Burge et al, 1979). To ascertain if this represented a survivor population and to see if it had a recent onset the records of employees leaving the factory over the previous three-and-a-half years was studied retrospectively. ...
... On this basis it could be estimated that 59 or more of the 1104 shop floor workers left the factory because of work-related respiratory illness. This still underestimates the size of the problem in the factory as many employees continue to work despite symptoms (Burge et al, 1977;Burge et al, 1979). Furthermore, many employees may have given reasons for leaving other than ill health, yet suffered work-related respiratory illness. ...
Examination of the records of employees leaving an electronics factory over three-and-a-half years showed that a significantly greater proportion left the shop floor (where soldering took place) because of ill health than left the stores and office areas. This difference was largely due to work-related respiratory disease in those whose job was soldering. Shop floor workers leaving for health reasons also had increased sickness certification due to respiratory illness compared to stores and office workers. These findings suggest that work-related respiratory illness is a significant cause of morbidity and loss of employment in solderers working at the factory and that this has been a longstanding problem with its onset before the first recorded cases of occupational asthma caused by solder flux containing colophony.
... Occupational asthma caused by exposure to laboratory animals, one of the most widely appreciated causes of occupational asthma, has been found to be associated with atopy (in this case defined as a 3 mm wheal, at 10 min, to intradermal skin testing with one or more of three common allergens) [17]. This and other case-control studies [18,19] have found a higher prevalence of atopy in exposed workers who developed asthma than in those who did not, indicating that atopy can be a risk factor for occupational asthma caused by certain substances. However, atopic status has not been shown to be related to the occurrence of asthma from other substances, such as the asthma caused by the plicatic acid of Western Red Cedar wood dust [20]. ...
With the accelerating pace of new knowledge about occupational asthma, systematic epidemiological approaches have yielded important new insights into its clinical characteristics. Such questions as "what proportion of all cases of asthma are caused by occupational exposures?" and "is occupational asthma incidence rising?" can now be answered. Surveillance programmes estimate the number of exposed individuals and the number of incident cases, allowing us to perceive the magnitude of the health problem. Although occupational asthma is a relatively common illness, very little is known about quantitative exposure-response relationships. Epidemiological techniques can quantify the importance of predisposing factors, such as atopy or cigarette smoking, in determining individual risk factors for occupational asthma. Still to be determined are the major, possibly genetic factors which make occupational asthma an "idiosyncratic" illness, affecting only a minority of those with equivalent exposures in the workplace. The goal of applying epidemiological techniques to the study of occupational asthma is ultimately to identify more effective means to prevent its occurrence.
Colophony (rosin) is the product of pine tree resin. Gum rosin is produced by scarifying pine trees and collecting the crude oleoresin. This is washed to remove soluble acid and distilled under vacuum. The distillate is turpentine, the residue colophony. Colophony can also be produced from dead pine tree stumps (wood rosin) or the tall oil left over after kraft pulp manufacture (tall oil rosin). The composition and purity of the colophony depends on the method of preparation (Lawrence, 1959; Enos et al., 1968). Colophony produced from tall oil is likely to be oxidized in the heating process decreasing the optical grade (Lawrence, 1959). Colophony is a mixture of resin acids each containing one carboxyl group and either two (abietic type) or one (pimaric type) unsaturated double bonds (Figure 1) with a neutral fraction. Colophonies from different species of pine trees differ in their ratio of abietic to pimaric type resin acids (Enos et al., 1968) and also in the composition of the neutral fraction.
