Respirator Effects in Impaired Workers

描述(申请人提供)：在职业安全与健康领域，呼吸器(呼吸个人防护设备，RPPE)已在工业中广泛使用。最近，生物恐怖主义和/或流行病的可能性以及对风险的看法增加了更广泛使用呼吸器的可能性。可能要求患有轻度呼吸损伤的人或因恐怖主义和/或流行病而出现轻度呼吸损伤的个人使用呼吸器，而不是被许多工作排除在外。该项目将把先前关于呼吸器对相对健康的人的影响的研究扩展到有轻度呼吸损伤的人。研究对象分为四组：正常、慢性阻塞性肺疾病、慢性鼻炎、哮喘。每个受试者都将在受控运动实验室中使用呼吸器替代负荷(吸气阻力、呼气阻力、死腔)进行研究。此外，还将使用N95和全面罩呼吸器，在模拟静坐或中等劳累水平的“真实世界”工作中对每种呼吸器进行研究。测量将包括生理参数、主观评级和对适当利用的估计。在三年的时间里，大约140名受试者将参与其中。该项目应该描述这些个体群体的反应模式，并描述呼吸器负荷的不同组成部分的影响。这些信息可能有助于制定政策(例如，就地避难所与呼吸器的使用)，设计更好的呼吸器，以及工人的选择/咨询。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the field of Occupational Safety and Health, respirators (respiratory personal protective equipment, RPPE) have been widely used in industry. More recently, the possibility of bioterrorism and/or epidemics as well as the perception of risk increase the likelihood of much more widespread respirator use. Persons with mild respiratory impairments or individuals who develop mild respiratory impairments as a consequence of terrorism and/or epidemic may be required to use respirators rather than being excluded from many jobs. This project will extend prior research about respirator effects in relatively healthy individuals to persons with mild respiratory impairments. Four groups of subjects will be studied: normal, COPD, chronic rhinitis, asthma. Each subject will be studied in a controlled exercise laboratory using respirator surrogate loads (inspiratory resistance, expiratory resistance, dead space). In addition, each will be studied during simulated "real world" work of a sedentary or moderate exertion level using an N95 and a full face mask respirator. Measures will include physiologic parameters, subjective ratings, and estimates of proper utilization. Over three years, approximately 140 subjects will participate. The project should characterize the response patterns of these individual groups as well as delineate the effects of different components of respirator loads. The information may be useful for policy establishment (e.g., shelter in place vs. respirator use), designing better respirators, and worker selection/counseling.