Measures of Dust, Endotoxin, and Exhaled Nitric Oxide among Dairy Farm Workers

描述(申请人提供)：与其他行业的工人相比，呼吸系统疾病在农业工人中更常见。然而，对乳制品行业工人的关注却很少。在过去的十年里，乳制品行业已经转变为依赖更多的员工。这些工人可能会在更大程度和更长时间内暴露在引起肺部炎症的介质中。肺部炎症的存在也可能是哮喘、慢性支气管炎或慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)的指标。呼出的一氧化氮(ENO)已被广泛用于哮喘的诊断和哮喘治疗效果的评估，但eNO尚未被用于评估大型奶牛养殖场工人的肺部炎症。因此，本研究将在大型牛群奶牛场工人的样本中测量ENO。这些工人还将接受职业性接触粉尘和内毒素的评估。将使用一个广义线性模型来观察eNO的交叉位移变化与内毒素和粉尘暴露之间的关系。这项拟议的研究具有创新性，因为很少有研究评估大型奶牛场工人的肺部健康与暴露于粉尘和内毒素等制剂之间的关系。这项研究的结果将对了解这些暴露与大型奶牛场工人肺健康的关系具有重要影响。这项研究将为可能开发潜在干预措施的领域提供洞察力。 公共卫生相关性：该项目将提供有关奶牛场工人所经历的粉尘和内毒素暴露的信息。该项目还将提供有关呼出的一氧化氮和肺部症状与这些粉尘和内毒素暴露的关系的信息。更多地了解这些暴露的规模、来源和对健康的影响将有助于制定预防战略。最后，首席调查员在本研究过程中获得的技能将使该调查员能够在未来的研究项目中独立开展研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Respiratory disease is more common among agricultural workers compared to workers in other industries. However, little attention has been given to workers in the dairy industry. Over the past decade, the dairy industry has changed to rely on more employees. These workers may be exposed at a greater magnitude and duration to agents which cause lung inflammation. The presence of lung inflammation may also be an indicator of asthma, chronic bronchitis, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Exhaled NO (eNO) has been used extensively as a tool to diagnose asthma and measure the effectiveness of asthma treatments, however eNO has not been used to evaluate lung inflammation among large herd dairy farm workers. Therefore, this study will measure eNO among a sample of large herd dairy farm workers. Occupational exposure to dust and endotoxin will also be assessed among these workers. A generalized linear model will be used to observe relationships between cross shift changes in eNO, and exposure to endotoxin and dust. The proposed research is innovative because there are few studies evaluating relationships between pulmonary health and exposure to agents such as dust and endotoxin among large herd dairy farm workers. The results of this study will have a significant impact on the understanding the relationship between these exposures and pulmonary health among large herd dairy farm workers. This study will provide insight into areas where potential interventions may be developed. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project will provide information about dust and endotoxin exposures that dairy farm workers experience. This project will also provide information about the relationship of exhaled nitric oxide and pulmonary symptoms to these dust and endotoxin exposures. Learning more about the magnitude, sources and health impact of these exposures will allow for the development of prevention strategies. Finally, the skills acquired by the principal investigator during the course of this study will enable this investigator to perform research independently on future research projects.