Could Sputum Eosinophilia Act as a Predictive Test for Diagnosis of High Risk Bakery Workers to Asthma?
Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53397#.VMCLTyzQrzE Author(s) Omid Giahi 1 , Mehrzad Ebrahemzadih 2 , Jamshid Khoubi 2* Affiliation(s) 1 Kurdistan Environmental Health Research Center, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran . 2 Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Health, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran . ABSTRACT Background: Occupational flour inhalation has been a culprit in the start of several pulmonary diseases such as asthma. We examined the relationship between occupational wheat flour inhalation in bakery and supermarket employees with pulmonary functions, respiratory symptoms, and sputum eosinophilia to determine hyper-responsiveness in a cross-sectional study in Iran. Methods: 122 subjects from traditional bakeries and 137 subjects from supermarket employees were enrolled in the study. Flour exposure concentr...