Gender differences in the effect of occupational endotoxin exposure on impaired lung function and death: the Shanghai Textile Worker Study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Airborne endotoxin exposure has adverse and protective health effects. Studies show men have augmented acute inflammatory responses to endotoxin. In this longitudinal cohort study we investigated the effect of long-term exposure to endotoxin in cotton dust on health, and determined whether these effects differ by gender.

Methods

In the Shanghai Textile Worker Study, 447 cotton and 472 control silk textile workers were followed from 1981 to 2011 with repeated measures of occupational endotoxin exposure, spirometry and health questionnaires. Impaired lung function was defined as a decline in forced expiratory volume in one second to less than the 5th centile of population predicted. Death was ascertained by death registries. We used Cox proportional hazards models to

SUBMITTER: Lai PS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4033669 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature