EVALUATION OF EXPOSURE TO FLOUR DUST AND RESPIRATORY COMPLICATIONS IN BAKERY WORKERS IN URMIA IN 2021

Respiratory complications arised from exposure to flour dust are among most common work-related diseases. This study was conducted to investigate flour dust exposure and its respiratory complications in bakery workers in Urmia in 2021.

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in 2021. The statistical population of the study consists of 166 bakers in Urmia. An standard questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence of respiratory symptoms in workers. Data analysis was performed at two levels of descriptive and analytical statistics by SPSS 22 software using t-test, chi-square and one-way ANOVA at the significant level of P <0.05.

The mean and standard deviation of age obtained 40.39 and 10.17 years and mean and standard deviation of work experience obtained 15.13 and 9.49 years. The most common complication in the studied people were chest sputum (22.3%) and cough (16.9%). According to the results, there were significant relationships between respiratory complications with the type of bakery (P= 0.0001), the type of contact with dust (P= 0.0001), and also with the type of job (P= 0.000).

The results of this study showed the existence of respiratory complications in the bakers of Urmia. Therefore, in order to reduce respiratory complications, it is necessary to do actions such as providing appropriate personal protective equipment, adequate ventilation, and reducing the duration of exposure.