Titre :
|
Healthy worker effect in a longitudinal study of one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1) and chronic exposure to granite dust. (1995)
|
Auteurs :
|
E.A. EISEN ;
T.A. LOUIS ;
J.M. Peters ;
T.J. Smith ;
D.H. WEGMAN ;
Univ Massachusetts. Dep work environment. Lowell MA. USA
|
Type de document :
|
Article
|
Dans :
|
International journal of epidemiology (vol. 24, n° 6, 1995)
|
Pagination :
|
1154-1162
|
Langues:
|
Anglais
|
Mots-clés :
|
Poussière
;
Appareil respiratoire [pathologie]
;
Homme
;
Exposition professionnelle
;
Etats Unis
;
Amérique
;
Epidémiologie
;
Adaptation
;
Poste travail
;
Condition travail
;
Médecine travail
|
Résumé :
|
[BDSP. Notice produite par INIST mMNy4R0x. Diffusion soumise à autorisation]. Background. Low level effects of granite dust on one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1) are estimated in 618 Vermont granite workers followed for 5 years with annual pulmonary function tests. Reduced pulmonary function has already been reported for the subset of subjects lost to follow-up (dropouts) suggesting possible bias in analyses based only on survivors. Method. Healthy worker selection bias is directly assessed by comparing the dose-response associations between survivors who remained in the study for the full 5-year observation period and the dropouts. Results. The 353 survivors had an FEV1 of 96% of predicted at baseline and were losing FEV1 at an average rate of 44 ml/yr. No association was found in this group between the rate of FEV1 decline and lifetime dust exposure. However, the 265 workers with incomplete follow-up, dropouts'had a lower FEV1 at baseline (94%) and were losing FEV1 at an average rate of 69 ml/yr. The dose-response parameter in this group was estimated to be 4 ml/yr loss per mg/m3-year and was statistically significant. Conclusions. These results provide an illustration of bias due to the healthy worker effect and an example of the failure to detect a true work-related health effect in a study based only on a'survivor'population.
|