Background: Inhalation exposure to organic dust causes lung inflammation among agricultural workers. Due to changes in production and work organization, task-based inhalation exposure data, including novel lung inflammation biomarkers, will inform exposure recommendations for dairy farm workers.
Methods: Linear regression was used to estimate the associations of airborne exposure to dust concentration, endotoxin, and muramic acid with pulmonary outcomes (i.e., FEV1 , exhaled nitric oxide). Logistic regression was used to estimate associations with self-reported pulmonary symptoms.
Results: Mean exposure concentration to inhalable dust, endotoxin, and muramic acid were 0.55 mg/m3 , 118 EU/m3 , and 3.6 mg/m3 , respectively. We found cross-shift differences for exhaled nitric oxide (P = 0.005) and self-reported pulmonary symptoms (P = 0.008) but no association of exposure with respiratory outcomes.
Conclusions: Inhalation exposures during parlor tasks, which were lower than previously reported and were not associated with cross-shift measures of pulmonary health among dairy workers. Modern milking parlor designs may be contributing to lower inhalation exposure. Am. J. Ind. Med. 60:255-263, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords: aerosol; agriculture; dairy; endotoxin; exhaled nitric oxide; inhalation exposure; muramic acid; worker.
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.