Objective To explore the association between the detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational hazards exposure among permanent residents ≥ 40 years old in Zhejiang province for providing evidence to COPD prevention.
Methods Face-to-face questionnaire interview, anthropometry measurement and pulmonary function test were conducted among 3 004 permanent urban/rural residents aged 40 years and above recruited with stratified multistage random sampling in five counties/prefectures of Zhejiang province during April – December 2019. Unconditional multivariate logistic regression model was applied to analyze the correlation between occupational hazards exposure and the detection of COPD.
Results Among the 2 926 participants (51.3% males, 48.7% females) finally included in the analysis, 1 004 (34.3%) and 755 (25.8%) reported having been exposed to occupational dust and harmful gas; the percentages of the participants reporting specific occupational history were 1.6% (48 participants) for coal/mining/quarrying/gas industry, 1.8% (53) for metallurgy/casting/machine manufacturing industry, 3.2% (95) for cement/asbestos/ceramics/glass/graphite produc-tion, 4.1% (119) for engineering/construction engineering/traffic construction, 3.7% (108) for petrochemical/chemical/pharma-ceutical industry, 5.4% (157) for wood processing/furniture processing/house decoration industry, 3.4% (100) for textile/papermaking/cotton/fur processing, 2.2% (63) for dry cleaning/cleaning/cook/porter work, and 18.8% (551) for farm work, respectively. Totally 361 (12.34%) participants were detected as having COPD based on the results of pulmonary function test (forced expiratory volume in one second FEV1/forced vital capacity FVC < 70%). The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that the participants with farm work history were more likely to have COPD (odds ratio = 1.38, 95% confidence interval: 1.05 − 1.89) after adjusting for sex, age, education, marital status, body mass index and smoking status.
Conclusion Being engaged in farm work may be a risk factor for COPD among residents 40 years old and above in Zhejiang province.
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