Workers exposed to a variety of wood dusts have been shown to exhibit
occupational asthma, lung function deficits, and elevated levels of re
spiratory symptoms, Despite the popularity of pine and spruce, the hea
lth effects of exposures to these woods have not been extensively inve
stigated. A study was undertaken to investigate the respiratory health
of a group of sawmill workers processing pine and spruce (n=94), Data
collection included a respiratory symptom questionnaire, Spirometry,
and allergy skin testing. The sawmill workers were compared with a gro
up of oil held workers from the same geographic area who underwent the
same study protocol (n=165). The results showed that the sawmill work
ers had significantly lower average values for FEV(1) and FEV(1)/FVC(%
), adjusted for age, height, and smoking, The largest differences were
for current smokers, Significantly elevated age and smoking-adjusted
odds ratios (OR) were detected for shortness of breath (2.83; 95% conf
idence interval [CI], 1.47 to 5.46) and wheeze with chest tightness (2
.58; 95% CI, 1.18 to 5.62), Nonsignificant elevations were also seen f
or usual cough (1.47; 95% CI, 0.68 to 3.16), usual phlegm (1.94; 95% C
I, 0.98 to 3.87), shortness of breath with exercise (1.45; 95% CI, 0.6
6 to 3.20), chest tightness (1.43;95% CI, 0.80 to 2.57), and attacks o
f wheeze (1.70; 95% CI, 0.79 to 3.68). Sawmill workers were 2.5 times
as likely as oil held workers to report current asthma (95% CI, 0.76 t
o 8.32), Workers employed more than 3 years showed significantly more
asthma (OR=3.67; 95% CI, 1.00 to 13.5) and bronchitis (OR=2.14; 95% CI
, 1.02 to 4.52), Sawmill workers were only 43% as likely to report a h
istory of hay fever (95% CI, 0.20 to 0.94), These health effects were
noted despite an average concentration of respirable dust of 1.35 mg/m
(3) (range, 0.1 to 2.2 mg/m(3)), These levels are below the present oc
cupational standard.