Prevalence of Respiratory Disorders among Woodworkers in Jimma Town, Southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Wood dust is one of the most common sources of occupational exposures in the world. Occupational exposure to wood dust inhalation results in respiratory disorders. Jimma was the endemic and pioneer of different wood and wood products that creates work opportunity for many individuals but, simultaneous exposure to different respiratory impairments was inevitable. Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of respiratory disorders among woodworkers in Jimma town, Ethiopia, 2018 G.C. Method: A community based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among woodworkers and non-woodworkers in Jimma town, 2018 G.C. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select the exposed study group and convenience sampling technique was used to select the non-exposed group. Spirometer and clinical presentation was used to identify respiratory disorders. A total of 140 study participants were enrolled in the study. Data were checked for completeness, entered into Epi data version 1.7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics were computed and results were presented with narratives, tables or figures. Results: The magnitudes of ventilatory impairments were higher among exposed group (44.2%) than non-exposed group (14.3%) specifically identified as restrictive disease (20% and 6.8%), obstructive disease (17.1% and 5.7%) and mixed pattern (7.1% and 0%] among woodworkers and control group respectively. Conclusion: In general the prevalence of respiratory disorders/ventilatory impairments was diagnosed among 41 respondents (29.3%) while the left 99 (70.7%) considered as having normal pulmonary function. The burdens of respiratory disorders were higher (44.2%) among woodworkers when compared with control group (14.3%).