Do sanitary ceramic workers have a worse presentation of chest radiographs or pulmonary function tests than other ceramic workers?

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Silicosis remains the most prevalent occupational disease worldwide. There have been no specific studies focusing on the association between exposure settings at work and the clinical severity in silicosis patients. In this study, we describe and compare the clinical characteristics and silicosis-associated exposure history at work among workers from several types of ceramic production facilities in Taiwan.

METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 221 patients who were first diagnosed with silicosis at the Occupational Medicine Clinic of Northern Taiwan in 2012. For each patient, we collected data on demographic characteristics, smoking habits, working history, duration of exposure, and years on the first relevant job. We also retrieved clinical reports of the pulmonary function test and the baseline chest radiography used for silicosis staging.

RESULTS: As compared to other ceramic workers, sanitary ceramic workers had a worse X-ray type (p=0.044), more advanced age (p<0.001), longer working duration (p=0.029), and a higher proportion of starting the first relevant job prior to the year 1975 (p=0.003). However, after adjusting for age, work duration, and an initial occupational exposure prior to 1975, sanitary ceramic workers showed a comparable risk for worse X-ray findings to other ceramic workers (adjusted odds ratio=1.18, p=0.704). Results of multivariable regression models on individual lung function parameter also suggested comparably impaired lung function tests between sanitary and other ceramic workers (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION: In this study, we found that sanitary ceramic workers were at a similar risk to other ceramic workers for moderate to severe silicosis when older age and longer working duration were accounted for.