How can dust affect the breathing system

Currently it cannot be confirmed that dust exposure causes asthma to develop, however breathing in high concentrations of dust over many years is thought to reduce lung function in the long term and contribute to disorders like chronic bronchitis and heart and lung disorders.

Breathing low levels of household or urban dust does not cause health problems in most individuals. Anyone who is exposed to high levels of dust may be affected — the longer you breathe in the dust, then the greater the chance that it will affect your health.

The Department of Health recommends that you think about using dust control and personal protective equipment whenever you undertake dusty activities at home or at work. People more likely to develop health problems from long term exposure to high levels of dust include:. Anyone who regularly experiences shortness of breath or hay fever type symptoms from breathing dust should discuss these symptoms with their doctor.

Australia controls dust levels in the air where people live through a range of measures. The DWER monitors air quality external site , including dust, across the Perth metropolitan and major rural areas. The DWER investigates incidents where the standards are exceeded. The DWER licences all industry and activities external site that emit pollutants into the environment.

Either the DWER or the Environmental Protection Agency EPA external site can impose conditions on a company that restrict the amount of dust particles that their activities can emit into the air.

Companies must monitor their emissions and routinely report the information back to DWER. Other dust control measures include planning conditions around the development of residential areas close to emission sources. Planning conditions might include:.

These measures help to dissipate dust and other pollutants and together with air quality standards are highly effective for reducing dust impacts on communities. If you have a medical complaint you believe is related to dust, see your GP. Your GP should contact the health department if your medical complaint is related to environmental pollution. Neighbourhood concerns should be raised with your local council. Most councils employ environmental health officers who can investigate local neighbourhood matters.

Visit the local government directory external site. All other pollution complaints can also be registered through the DWER reporting pollution form external site or by email to pollutionwatch der. This publication is provided for education and information purposes only. So far, has been a wild year and we are only halfway through.

It turns out, it may be dust storms. A Saharan dust storm of historic proportions recently crossed the Atlantic Ocean and is impacting the United States. This year, however, the dust plume is much larger than normal with experts predicting this will be the most dust they have seen in half a century.

The dust plume is currently in the process of cloaking the southeastern United States, but CNN meteorologist Tyler Mauldin believes the storm could reach as far north as southern Illinois and Ohio.

McCormack explained. It is also important that people with underlying lung conditions, such as COPD and asthma , are aware of their increased risk of complications if exposed. Though people with chronic lung disease are more at risk for developing complications from the Saharan dust storm, everyone has the potential to experience symptoms related to dust exposure. If you live in an area that is experiencing higher levels of dust than normal, Dr.

McCormack says to stay on alert for symptoms like wheezing and coughing. She also urges those living in high dust areas to continue wearing a face covering while outdoors and thinking about how protect your indoor air environment.

McCormack suggests keeping windows closed during high dust days and regularly changing out air filters if you live in a home with central air. In this study, 84 street sweepers exposed to dust and 80 office workers in the Zahedan municipality were investigated.

The ages of the participants ranged from 23 years old to 61 years old and 21 years old to 78 years old in the exposed and control groups, respectively.

The work experiences varied from 5 years to 30 years in the exposed group and 5 years to 41 years in the unexposed group. Furthermore, The means and SDs of some of the demographic characteristics are shown in Table 1. Means standard deviations of the demographic characteristics of the exposed and unexposed groups. Current cigarette smokers made up 8.

However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups. The smoking duration means were Table 3 provides a comparison between the respiratory symptoms in the exposed and unexposed groups. The chances of experiencing coughing, phlegm, dyspnoea and wheezing symptoms were Moreover, there was no significant difference between the street sweepers and the controls in terms of the FVC Table 4.

In this study, the BMI means for the unexposed group This could be due to the greater physical activity of the exposed individuals with regard to their duties, such as sweeping, bending and straightening while walking in the streets, when compared to the sedentary office workers in the same municipality.

Based the results of this study, the respiratory symptoms, including coughing, phlegm, coughing with phlegm, dyspnoea and wheezing, were significantly more common in the street sweepers than in the controls. Coughing and wheezing were five and six times more common, respectively, in the exposed group than in the control group. In the current study, the chances of experiencing coughing and phlegm were Similarly, Neghab et al. Gholamie et al. Two studies conducted in Egypt reported coughing to be approximately three times more common in the street sweepers than in the controls 26 , The direct exposure of street sweepers to organic and mineral dust from sweeping and the lack of proper respiratory protection equipment can lead to respiratory symptoms in this population.

Dust particles, smoke and other biological substances irritate the respiratory system, causing coughing and other respiratory complications. Some other studies have reported similar relationships between respiratory symptoms and carbon dust 23 , coffee dust 28 and cement dust In Greece, in a study of street sweepers who worked 6 h a day, 5 days a week, coughing with phlegm was not significantly higher in the street sweepers than in the control group.

The latter could be due to the Greek Committee for Occupational Health and Safety laws requiring that street sweepers with significant respiratory symptoms be transferred to other municipal departments. If their respiratory problems lead to disability, that person is considered to be disabled Although the FVC values were lower in the exposed group, the difference was not significant, implying that the dust had not yet caused severe damage to the small airways of lung.

This condition affects most of the small airways, and it is likely to aggravate as the work experience increases In contrast, two studies in India reported different results. Johncy et al. Ajay et al. The reason for the difference between the current study and the two latter studies in India may be related to the dissimilarities in the dust concentrations, sexes of the exposed individuals, anatomical and physiological differences between males and females, differences in the pulmonary functions of the individuals, and the specific occupational conditions and races of the study subjects.

Additionally, women also display a higher degree of bronchial response due to hormone fluctuations after puberty In one previous study, a comparison of the pulmonary functions of male and female cigarette smokers showed that female lungs were relatively smaller than male lungs, and the metabolism of the compounds in the cigarette smoke differed between the genders Therefore, the lower pulmonary function parameter levels in women make them more vulnerable when they are exposed to pollutants.

Contrary to the results of the current study, another study of 52 male street sweepers in Switzerland showed that there were no significant differences in the pulmonary function parameters between the street sweepers and the control group 34 , which could have been due to the smaller sample size and remarkably better working conditions in that study.

In the present study, there was no correlation between the work experience and pulmonary functions of the exposed group, which is consistent with the findings of the study by Neghab et al. Conversely, Mariammal et al. Perhaps the lack of significance observed in the current study may be due to the differences in the factors, including the exposure duration, dust concentration and particle size, previous occupations, and the absence of accurate work experience documentation of Zahedan street cleaners.

Moreover, considering the relatively young age of the participants evaluated in this study, with a means age of It should be noted that a number of the street sweepers used special scarves, which are common among the local Baloch ethnic group, as respiratory masks to reduce the flow of dust into their lungs.

Because the work experience and BMI means were greater in the control group than in the exposed group, the pulmonary function reduction was mainly due to the dust exposure and working conditions. The cigarette smoking duration and number of smokers were not significantly different between the two groups in the current study.

Similarly, other studies have reported no relationships between cigarette smoking and pulmonary function 24 , Contrary to the aforementioned results, Shadab et al.

They demonstrated that dust exposure caused obstructive pulmonary dysfunction among the street sweepers, a condition which is exacerbated by smoking. The reason for this inconsistency in the findings could be the lower number of smokers in the present study when compared to that in the latter study 10 versus 20 individuals, respectively. Although the results of this study did not establish the temporal relationships of the dust risk, they did indicate that the pulmonary function parameter changes of the street cleaners were associated with their occupational exposure and working conditions.

As a result, the frequency of respiratory symptoms among the street sweepers was greater than that of the control group. In order to prevent respiratory disorders in this population, and reduce dust while sweeping, it is strongly recommended that preventive measures, such as brooms with large handles, modern cleansing equipment, sprinkling water on the street before sweeping, limiting the duration of work to 3 or 4 days a week, and using appropriate respiratory protection, be introduced by municipal authorities.

Furthermore, a periodic assessment of lung function needs to be conducted via spirometry in order to diagnose pulmonary dysfunction early in this financially deprived population.

Eventually, if possible, individuals with respiratory problems or significant pulmonary function parameter reductions should be transferred to other municipal departments. Authors would like to thank the Zahedan municipality management for their cooperation in conducting the research.

Ethics of Study. Before the study began, all of the participants completed informed consent forms that explained the purpose of the study and measurements needed from each individual. Conflicts of Interest. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Malays J Med Sci. Published online Dec Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Corresponding author. Received Aug 2; Accepted Nov This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.

Abstract Background The most common risks for street sweepers are respiratory symptom and airway obstruction increases as a result of dust inhalation. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 84 street sweepers with occupational dust exposure exposed group and 80 office workers control group working for the municipality of Zahedan in Iran.

Conclusion Occupational exposure and unhealthy working conditions are the most likely causes of mild obstructive disease and pulmonary function parameter changes.

Keywords: pulmonary function, dust, spirometry, respiratory symptoms, exposure. Introduction Street sweepers play important roles in environmental health by maintaining the cleanliness of the streets; however, these individuals are exposed to many risks.

Methods and Subjects Study Design This retrospective cohort study was carried out among the street sweepers working in the Zahedan municipality. Sampling Out of all the street sweepers working for the Zahedan municipality, 84 individuals were selected via simple random sampling.