RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SILICA DUST EXPOSURE AND CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE IN WORKERS OF DUST GENERATING INDUSTRIES OF DISTRICT PESHAWAR

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a common cause of morbidity worldwide. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between silica dust inhalation and COPD among workers of dust generating industries. Materials & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in three main industrial regions of Peshawar i.e. Industrial Estate Hayatabad, Industrial area Ring Road and Industries of Warsak Road Peshawar. A preformed questionnaire was used to interview 160 workers, 40 each from stone-grinding, ceramics, pottery and brick industries respectively. Only workers having worked for more than five years were selected through convenient sampling. Results: A total of 160 workers were interviewed out of which 56(35%) were symptomatic while 104(65%) were asymptomatic. Among symptomatic ones, 20(19.8%) were in 20-40years age group and 36(61%) in 41-60 years age group. In regard to exposure status, 7(26%) were symptomatic in those exposed for 5-10 years, 29(31.5%) amongst those exposed for 11-15 years and 20(49%) in those exposed for 15-20 years. With respect to working hours, none was symptomatic in those who had worked for 6 hours or less while 56(40%) were symptomatic in those who had worked for 8 or more hours. Among 128 smokers, 48(37.5%) were symptomatic and amongst 32 non-smokers 8(25%) were symptomatic. Amongst the symptomatic cases symptoms appeared within 5-10 years in 7(12.5%) of the cases, within 10-15 years in 29(51.8%) of the cases and within 15-20 years in 20(35.7%) of the cases. The major symptoms reported were cough in 56(100%) of the cases, dyspnea in 48(85.7%) and wheezing in 49(87.5%) of the symptomatic cases. Conclusion: The study revealed that majority of respondents who were exposed to silica dust for ten years or more, had respiratory problems. The severity of the problems was directly proportional to the duration of exposure to silica dust, density of dust (maximum in stone crushing), hours of daily exposure and other contributory factors like tobacco smoking and increasing age.