Background: Exposure to urban pollution may cause respiratory diseases in traffic policemen, especially in very polluted cities. The aim of this study was to investigate respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function in traffic police officers in a 5-year follow-up.
Methods: A 5-year follow-up on FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in one second), FVC (forced vital capacity), and respiratory symptoms was performed on 290 traffic policemen (90.9% of participation rate, mean age 39 +/- 8.3 years, seniority of work 11.4 +/- 8.2 years).
Results: Upper respiratory symptoms were reported by the 28% of traffic policemen assigned to traffic control and by the 11% of administrative workers (p = 0.006). Neither in the 1st control (ORc 1.1; IL 95% 0.6-2.3) nor in the follow-up, did ORL evaluation show any difference between the two groups, after having controlled for smoking habits (Mac Nemar test p > 0.05). The follow up on FEV1 and FVC did not show an accelerated decline in traffic policemen assigned to traffic control as compared to administrative police workers. These data suggest the need to follow-up this cohort, evaluating symptoms and respiratory function for a longer period of time, in order to better understand the role of road traffic pollution in inducing respiratory diseases.