Respiratory findings in art students

Art students are exposed to many noxious agents during their training. We studied respiratory findings in a cohort of the 117 art students in order to investigate the potential effects of these toxic agents in the art student's environment. A group of 88 medical students matched for age, sex an...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCollegium antropologicum Vol. 28; no. 2; p. 717
Main Authors Zuskin, Eugenija, Mustajbegović, Jadranka, Schachter, Neil E, Pavlović, Mladen, Arumugam, Umapathy, Chiarelli, Angelo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Croatia 01.12.2004
Subjects
Adult
Air Pollution, Indoor - adverse effects
Case-Control Studies
Chronic Disease
Environmental Exposure
Female
Humans
Male
Respiratory Function Tests
Respiratory Tract Diseases - etiology
Smoking - adverse effects
Students
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:Art students are exposed to many noxious agents during their training. We studied respiratory findings in a cohort of the 117 art students in order to investigate the potential effects of these toxic agents in the art student's environment. A group of 88 medical students matched for age, sex and smoking, not exposed to known environmental pollutants were studied as controls for respiratory symptoms. Respiratory symptoms acute and chronic were evaluated by modifying the British Medical Research Council questionnaire. Lung function studies were performed with a spirometer (Jaeger, Germany) measuring maximum expiratory flow-volume (MEFV) curves. Significantly higher prevalences of most of the chronic respiratory symptoms were recorded in art compared to medical students (p < 0.05). Art students who were smokers had significantly higher prevalences of many of the chronic respiratory symptoms than nonsmoking art students. High prevalences of acute symptoms related to the study environment were recorded for art students. Odds ratios in male art students were significant for chronic cough, chronic phlegm and chronic bronchitis for the risk factors of exposure and smoking. Significantly decreased lung function was recorded for FVC, FEF50 and FEF25 in male and FVC, and FEF25 in female art students. Smokers and nonsmokers had similar reductions of lung function. Our data indicate that art students may be at risk of developing chronic respiratory symptoms and lung function changes as a result of their exposure and their smoking habits.
ISSN:0350-6134