Changes in tobacco addiction and spirometric variations in workers exposed to chemical risk in biochemical research laboratories of a large Italian University - a retrospective cohort study

Objectives. To describe smoking cessation in a group of workers exposed to chemical risk and factors associated; to assess the changes of respiratory function over the years also in relation to risks to which they were exposed. Materials and Methods. We studied employees/students occupationally exposed to chemical risk from whom we also had information about smoking status and who had done a spirometry in all periodic visits and who had at least two periodic medical examinations during the follow-up. Results. Variables significantly associated to the smoking cessation are gender and exposure to biological risk. The changes in Forced Vital Capacity between the last and the first visit were associated to a significant negative correlation, from multivariate analysis, to age and to exposure to the display screen equipment. The Tiffeneau index was significantly positively associated with exposure to display screen equipment and to manual handling of loads; the Forced Expiratory Flow 25-75% was significantly associated with physical risk. Conclusions. A greater awareness on the consequences of smoking is recommended in subjects exposed to chemical risk, especially in women, in addition to a serial monitoring of lung function in order to carry out an early intervention in the first phase of airflow limitation.