Pk. Henneberger et al., ACCIDENTAL GASSING INCIDENTS AND THE PULMONARY-FUNCTION OF PULP-MILL WORKERS, The American review of respiratory disease, 148(1), 1993, pp. 63-67
A previous investigation of white male workers from a pulp and paper c
ompany in Berlin, New Hampshire identified decrements in forced expira
tory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) assoc
iated with work in the pulping operations. A subset of those data were
reanalyzed to consider another type of occupational exposure gassing
incidents in which workers were accidentally exposed to high levels of
irritant gases, such as chlorine (Cl2) or sulfur dioxide (SO2). A tot
al of 230 current and former workers (all white male) were included in
the analysis. Gassing events were more common among pulp mill workers
(34%) than workers from other parts of the company (90%). Average cha
nges of -291.9 ml in FEV1 (p < 0.05) and -5.00% in FEV1/FVC (p < 0.05)
were associated with gassing. Also, in each of the regression models
for the three measures of pulmonary function (FEV1, FVC, AND FEV1 /FVC
), there was a three-way interaction of cumulative smoking, cumulative
pulp mill exposure, and gassing. The greatest decreases in FEV1 and F
EV1/FVC associated with gassing were evident in the dual smoking/pulp
mill exposure categories of none/high and high/none. The changes in pu
lmonary function appeared to be chronic effects that persisted beyond
cessation of the exposure. Only limited information about the gassing
episodes was requested from the subjects, and future research is discu
ssed that will address some of the limitations.