EXPOSURE TO MINERAL-OIL MIST AND RESPIRATORY SYMPTOMS IN MARINE ENGINEERS

The purpose of the study was to see if marine engineers have an increa sed prevalence of respiratory symptoms, and if so whether it can be re lated to occupational exposures. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to 700 male seamen from three norwegian ferry companies. Of the 492 respondents, 169 were currently working as marine engineers and 29 5 had never worked as marine engineers. The outcome of cough and wheez ing, chronic bronchitis, severe dyspnea, and dyspnea, and mucous membr ane irritation (MMI) were defined from the questionnaire. Age and smok ing-adjusted prevalences of these respiratory conditions were compared between the groups. Logistic regression was used to further elucidate the explanatory variables. The exposure assessment indicated an expos ure (TWAC) to oil mist for marine engineers in the range from 0.12 to 0.74 mg/m(3) (mean 0.45 mg/m(3)) When comparing current marine enginee rs with those who had never worked as marine engineers, the prevalence ratios were 1.38 (95% CI 1.0-1.9) for MMI, 1.53 (95% CI 1.2-1.9) for any dyspnea, and 1.63 95% CI 1.0-2.6) for severe dyspnea. The differen ces remained for some of the symptoms after controlling for self-repor ted former asbestos exposure in the regression analysis. The increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms found among marine engineers in th is investigation may partly be explained by oil-mist exposure, or more probably by a combination of past asbestos exposure and past and pres ent oil-mist exposure. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.