scholarly journals Prevalence of symptoms of occupational lung diseases in marble cutting workers

Author(s):  
Ashish Shrivastava ◽  
Shashi P. Tomar ◽  
Mohit Patel

Background: Occupational lung diseases occurs in the workers exposed to occupation related hazards. These include Asthma, COPD, Coal worker pneumoconiosis, Silicosis and Asbestosis. Marble cutting exposes workers to fine dust that can cause a number of pulmonary diseases. Usually these are people from rural areas and they are unaware of health hazards related to occupation. Spreading awareness is the key amongst these people. The objective of the To study the prevalence of symptoms related to occupational lung diseases in marble cutting workers, to estimate current status of preventive measures used and to assess adaptive changes after educational interventionsMethods: A cross-sectional study was done on the marble cutting workers of Bhedaghat who were exposed to dust from marble cutting. A survey of their working environment and level of awareness was done using questionnaires. The workers were questioned about their working environment, usage of local preventive measures and health related problems. They were then taught about occupational hazards and preventive techniques that can be adopted to prevent such hazards. In subsequent visits, again a survey was done on how many of them were using adaptive measures and relevant counselling was done.Results: Most common reported respiratory problem was shortness of breath 26% and utilization of preventive measures was very poor only 5% but After the 2 follow-up visits including interventional measures and health education, the percentage of workers who started using preventive measures increased from 5% to 57.77%.Conclusions: Prevention is the key to occupational lung diseases. Early diagnosis and treatment also play a major role as prolonged exposure to these risk factors may cause irreversible damage. Health education, periodic health checkups and use to protective measures are the essence in preventing occupational lung diseases.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (02) ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Kalika Gupta ◽  
Mitin Parmar ◽  
Pranav Bhavsar ◽  
Milan Chaudhary

BACKGROUND Occupational lung diseases are diseases affecting the respiratory system, including occupational asthma, black lung disease and many more. Workers exposed to marble dust stand an increased risk of suffering from asthma symptoms, chronic bronchitis, nasal inflammation and impairment of lung functions. The recognition of occupational causes can be made difficult by years of latency between exposure in the workplace and the occurrence of disease. Through this study, authors have established the importance of early identification of symptoms of occupational lung diseases and the importance of preventive measures that can be applied to reduce incidence of such diseases. METHODS This was a cross sectional community-based study conducted on 340 marble mining or cutting workers of Rajnagar [Morwar], Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, for a duration of three months. Workers were clinically examined and asked about environmental conditions and use of preventive measures through a questionnaire designed by the investigators and with the help of pamphlets and videos, educational interventions were provided. RESULTS Almost 90 % of the workers didn’t use protective measure like mask or shield. Among the 10 % workers who were using safety measures, 60 % were using face mask and 20 % were using apron at the work place. After the educational intervention given by investigators, around 63 % had started using various safety measures. CONCLUSIONS Early interventions after development of symptoms are important as they can decrease chances of further worsening of the condition. Health education, periodic health check-ups and use of protective measures are the essence in preventing occupational lung diseases. KEYWORDS Occupational Lung Disease, Cough, Marble Workers, Silicosis


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
Zaw Z Htun ◽  
Yi Y Win ◽  
Aung M Myat ◽  
Soe M Naing

Introduction: Marble rocks, composed of dust containing calcium carbonate and silica particles, predispose to a higher prevalence of occupational lung diseases. This study aimed to assess workplace control measures and lung function impairment among marble stone carvers. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 120 marble stone carvers in Sa-Kyin Village, Madayar Township in May 2019. Information about existing control measures in the workplace was assessed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire and participants’ lung function using spirometry. Respirable dust measurements in twelve randomly selected workers were performed by personal air sampling pumps. Results: It was found that 9.2% of marble stone carvers used disposable or cloth masks throughout the working time, but no one was found using appropriate devices like respirators. No one reported about regular medical checkup and provision of health education at the workplaces. Spirometry testing showed 55.8% had lung function impairment. Concentrations of respirable dust ranged from 7.19 to 10.13 mg/m3, significantly higher than the recommended Threshold Limit Value (3 mg/m3). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, development of lung function impairment was associated with age [adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR) = 2.84; 95% CI = 1.02,7.91] and use of face mask (aOR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.01,0.91). Conclusion: The working environment was found dusty, and a significant proportion of workers had lung function impairment. It is essential to adopt proper dust control measures in stone carving workplaces. Preventive measures like medical surveillance and health education program are vital to reduce the burdens from occupational lung diseases.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Prerna Bansal ◽  
Dipendra Khatiwada ◽  
Hari Prasad Upadhyay

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and sixth leading cause of death in Nepal. Preventing new infections of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is crucial to reduce TB burden and death. The source of infection is an open (sputum positive) case of pulmonary tuberculosis. Poor management of TB-related waste like disposal of sputum by patients has been reported as a risk factor for increasing susceptibility to active TB infection. The present study was undertaken to assess preventive measures practiced by TB patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 82 tuberculosis patients who visited the five different DOTs centres of Bharatpur Municipality of Chitwan district, Nepal during December 2016 to February 2017. To find the association between variables, chi-square test was used. P-value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.  Results: The Mean ± SD of age of patients was 37.02±18.90 years. 67.10% of the patients received health education on preventive measures. 59.8% of the respondents had good practice on prevention measures of TB. Only 3.70% used burning method for the sputum disposal after diagnosis of TB. None of the respondents used boiling method for the disposal of sputum. Among all only 6% practiced safe method of sputum disposal. The statistically significant variables with health education were preventive measures like self isolation (ᵪ2 = 7.54, p = 0.006), covering face while coughing and sneezing (ᵪ2 = 4.113, p = 0.043) and keeping surrounding clean (ᵪ2= 7.880, p = 0.005).  Conclusions: Patients and family members should be well educated on practicing different preventive measures by further strengthening the preventive measures strategy in the transmission of tuberculosis if we envisioned to end TB by 2035.


Author(s):  
Sonia Almas ◽  
Ayesha Babar Kawish ◽  
Tahir Mehmood Butt ◽  
Subhana Akber Khan

Abstract Objective: To assess knowledge and practices regarding hand-washing among mothers of children aged ?5 years. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from March to July 2015 in rural areas of Union Council Charwa, Tehsil Pasrur in District Sialkot, Pakistan, and comprised mothers of children aged ?5 years. Data was collected using a pre-tested and validated structured questionnaire developed in line with World health Organisation guidelines on hand-washing technique. Data was analysed using SPSS 17. Results: Of the 422 subjects, 319 (75.4%) had sufficient knowledge and 104 (24.6%) showed good practices regarding hand-washing. However, only 59 (14%) mothers were found adherent to the appropriate technique of hand-washing. Conclusion: Health education and behaviour-changing communication approaches must be implemented to educate the masses about proper hand-washing technique. Key Words: Knowledge, Practices, Hand-washing, Mothers, Health education, Pakistan.


1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamkeen Nishat Jaffry ◽  
Samiha Mirza ◽  
Shehla Farheen ◽  
Sadaf Khalid

Background: Pakistan's health care system has been adversely affected by the non-availability of doctors in its rural and remote areas. It is the high time to realize that the improvement in the standard of health care services can be achieved with willingness and dedication of doctors to work in these areas which is only possible by providing them with suitable working environment. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 200 doctors working in public and private hospitals/clinics of Islamabad, Pakistan. Data was collected through a questionnaire and processed in SPSS software version 16. Results: 200 doctors comprising of 113 males and 87 females were recruited for the study. The mean age was 30 years (0.65 SD). Majority (86.5 %) of the doctors were of the view; that indeed it was the non-availability of doctors at rural health care centres for poor health services in such areas. 83.9 % agreed that basic facilities were lacking in rural areas. Regarding transportation, 74.5 % had the opinion that these facilities were inadequate in rural areas. Nevertheless, 84.5 % agreed that by improving the basic facilities of life, working conditions could be improved. However, 72.5 % supported the idea of extra hard area grant to improve doctors' motivation towards serving rural areas. Conclusion: Doctors were reluctant to serve in rural areas because of the difficulties affecting their social, professional and family life. By developing the infra-structure of health centres and by providing some special incentives to the serving doctors, this issue can be resolved to a considerable extent.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
S.M. Farzana ◽  
Farzana Binte Sahid ◽  
Devaroti Bhattacherjee ◽  
Tasniya Nahiyan Zulfiquar ◽  
Sanjida Haque ◽  
...  

Background: Dengue fever (DF) is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world. In this decade it has expanded to new countries and from urban to rural areas. Limited awareness and nonsystematized health education programmes have contributed adversely to the increase in dengue incidence due to limited attention which has positively contributed to the increase in vector receptivity. The current study was conducted to ascertain the knowledge, attitudes and Preventive measures regarding Dengue fever among the students of various universities in Bangladesh. Study design: A cross-sectional survey was carried out to assess the Knowledge, Awareness and Preventive measures (KAP) among the students of various universities in Bangladesh. Methodology: Between August 2020 & November 2020, an epidemiological survey was conducted among 199 students of various universities throughout Bangladesh. We collected information on the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and their knowledge, attitude and Preventive measures regarding DF using a structured questionnaire. Majority of the questions were dichotomous (Yes/No type) and some questions were asked using five point Likert scale.  We then statistically compared their knowledge, attitude and Preventive measures in regard to socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents to identify possible causes of observed differences using SPSS version 23. Results: Total number of students from Diploma, Undergraduate (Honor's), Postgraduate (Master's) were 199 who had given voluntary consent and participated in this study willingly.  The sample comprised more males (56%) than females (44%), and almost 50% of respondents were from allied health science (Pharmacy, Microbiology, Public health, Botany, Zoology, Biotechnology, Biochemistry etc) background. Respondents had relatively good knowledge about aspects of Dengue fever. Out of 199 individuals interviewed, 97% had heard of DF. They had good knowledge score regarding dengue symptoms but comparatively moderate knowledge score regarding dengue transmission and management. The knowledge, attitude and Preventive measures level of study respondents was found statistically significant in relation to the academic attainment of the respondents. Conclusion: We recommend implementing mass educational programmes throughout the country in order to raise the awareness and to translate knowledge into sound practice to control dengue disease epidemics in Bangladesh.


Author(s):  
Manjuram Mannuru

Background: Rajiv Aarogyasri has covered 86.53% of the families across the state. Majority of its people are living in rural areas. Hence, our study will explore gaps in accessibility of urban centric health services by rural policyholder’s under the scheme. To find out the current status of Aarogyasri coverage, awareness, utilization and experiences of rural policyholders in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh during the year 2014-15.Methods: This is a cross-sectional quantitative study and a total of 200 households were surveyed by using multi-stage random sampling technique to obtain primary data, and for background & discussion secondary data was reviewed. SPSS software was used for data analysisResults: In the past one year, 6.77% of the families have received benefits under the scheme. Amongst the ones who have utilized RAS services, 2/3rd of the families were protected from catastrophic illnesses and the mean average of 91.70% of the total costs was covered by RAS. Another 19.21% of the families were in need of healthcare but did not utilize the services due to lack of RAS card, lack of awareness, non-listed therapies, procedural difficulty, non-availability of caretaker, loss of wage and low quality of services.Conclusions: Overall, 66.66% of the beneficiaries expressed their satisfaction, 16.66% opinionated fair while 16.66% were dissatisfied with the RAS services. Beneficiaries experienced shortage of supportive services in Government hospitals under the scheme. Further, IEC activities, alternatives for excluded conditions, strengthening of public facilities will improve the utilization of RAS and reduce the OOPE.


2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Tarlo

Occupational asthma continues to be one of the most common occupational lung diseases in industrialized areas. Primary and secondary preventive measures have been well described, but there are relatively few studies to support the effectiveness of such measures, although the benefits of tertiary measures such as early recognition and removal from further exposure to a causative sensitizing agent are well recognized. In Ontario, a combined approach of preventive measures has shown effectiveness in allergy and asthma from occupational exposure to natural rubber latex. In addition, a program to reduce exposure to diisocyanates and introduce medical surveillance was associated with earlier diagnosis and fewer cases in a compensation population. However there remain barriers to the early diagnosis of occupational asthma in Ontario, especially in workers of lower education and lower income. In addition, there is recognized need for further physician education to allow early suspicion and diagnosis of occupational asthma.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansour Tobaiqy ◽  
Sami S. Almudarra ◽  
Manal M.Shams ◽  
Samar A. Amer ◽  
Mohamed F.Alcattan ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundAnnually, approximately 10 million Umrah pilgrims travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for Umrah from more than 180 countries. This event presents major challenges for the Kingdom’s public health sector, which strives to decrease the burden of infectious diseases and to adequately control its spread.Aims of the studyThe aims of the study were to assess the experiences of preventive measures practice, including vaccination history and health education, among Umrah pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.MethodsA cross sectional survey administered to a randomly selected group of pilgrims by the research team members from February to the end of April 2019 at the departure lounge at King Abdul Aziz International airport, Jeddah city. The questionnaire was comprised of questions on the following factors: sociodemographic information, level of education, history of vaccinations and chronic illnesses, whether the pilgrim has received any health education and orientation prior to coming Saudi Arabia or on their arrival, and their experiences with preventive medicine.ResultsPilgrims (n=1012) of 48 nationalities completed the survey and were reported in this study. Chronic diseases (n=230) were reported among pilgrims, with hypertension being the most reported morbidity (n=124, 53.9%). The majority of pilgrims had taken immunization prior to travel to Saudi Arabia, and the most commonly reported immunizations were meningitis (n=567, 56%), influenza (n=460, 45.5%), and Hepatitis B virus vaccinations (n=324, 32%); however, 223(22%) had not received any vaccinations prior to travel, including meningitis vaccine, which is mandatory in Saudi Arabia. 305 pilgrims (30.1%) had reported never using face masks in crowded areas; however, 63.2% reported lack of availability of these masks.The majority of participants had received health education on preventive measures, including hygienic aspects (n=799, 78.9%) mostly in their home countries (n=450, 56.3%). A positive association was found between receiving health education and practicing of preventive measures, such as wearing masks in crowded areas (P= 0.04) and other health practice scores (P= 0.02).ConclusionAlthough the experiences of the preventive measures among pilgrims in terms of health education, vaccinations, and hygienic practices were overall positive, this study identified several issues with the following preventive measures: immunizations particularly meningitis vaccine and using face masks in crowded areas.Further studies are required to develop a health education module to promote comprehensive preventive measures for pilgrims.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-21
Author(s):  
Lalitha Krishnappa

Damien Foundation India Trust (DFIT), one of the members of International Federation of Anti-Leprosy associations (ILEP) are involved in providing technical and financial support in leprosy and TB control through its projects spread across the country. While support to leprosy control started way back in 1982 through its own project, support to TB control started only in 2003. This study was part of evaluation taken to assess the role of DTST in achieving the planned objectives and to assess the impact of DFIT’s involvement in TB control. To assess the current status of worker safety in DMC/TUs of RNTCP centers in state of Bihar and the role and contribution of DTST in ensuring the same. This cross sectional evaluation study was undertaken in randomly selected 8 DMCs/ TUs in rural areas of two districts of Bihar state in 2007. Evaluation was done using pre-tested observational checklist and personal discussions with key personnel. Evaluation included assessment of role & contribution of DTST with respect to infrastructure & resource availability; Training and capacity building; Practice regarding safe disposal of infected materials & worker safety. Most of the civil works was complete in functional DMC/ TUs visited. Sharp pits for sharp disposal were available in only 50% of DMCs/TUs. Staffing position complete to nearly 80%. DTST role in capacity building training, infrastructure availably and monitoring of the programme has been remarkable. However there is a need to emphasis on importance of the worker safety and universal precautions during training. Effective implementation of clearly laid down National guidelines & policy keeping in lieu of the worker safety is the need of the hour when the programme gets streamlined in the general health system.   


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