This paper reviews the role and importance of small-scale industries together with the issue of occupational health problems and their causes in Iranian hand-woven carpet industry as a typical informal small-scale industry in an industrially developing country. The objective of this paper is to review health risk factors and related occupational health and ergonomic problems in the carpet industry. Since the overwhelming majority of weavers' health problems originate from ergonomic risk factors, it is concluded that any improvement program in this industry should focus on ergonomic aspects. To assess ergonomic conditions in weaving workshops, a checklist has been developed and an ergonomics index indicating the ergonomic conditions of the workshop has been proposed. To test and verify the checklist, 50 weaving workshops were visited and their ergonomic conditions were assessed. Based on the results some modifications were made and the checklist was shown to be an effective tool.

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Major Health Risk Factors in Iranian Hand-Woven Carpet Industry

The prevalence rate of chronic airway's diseases in women and associated risk factors in developing countries are not well clarified. We evaluated the role of indoor duties in the prevalence of asthma, chronic bronchitis, and related symptoms among females in Isfahan suburbs. In three randomly selected villages, 561 responder females (response rate=95.25%) were evaluated through medical interview and physical examinations. Symptoms, signs, occupational and smoking histories, indoor and farming duties, possible outdoor jobs, housing and farming conditions were assessed. The observed respiratory morbidities were: current asthma (11.2%), history of asthma (1.3%), using asthma medications in life (15.2%), chronic bronchitis (3.4%), exercise-induced dyspnea and/or cough (16.2%), and frequent night coughs and/or dyspnea (15.3%). Age, childhood pulmonary infection, bread baking, carpet weaving and using biomass fuels were significant risk factors for all the pulmonary morbidities (P<0.05 to <0.001). Poultry feeding, using kerosene and gas fuels, were less strong risk factors for asthma and chronic bronchitis, respectively Only seven women were current or ex-smokers. Indoor respirable particulate matters were two to four folds more concentrated than outdoors. Women doing indoor jobs in Iran are potential risk factors for development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Indoor women jobs and pulmonary risks in rural area of isfahan-iran in 2000

Indoor women jobs and pulmonary risks in rural areas of Isfahan, Iran, 2000

Respiratory and allergic symptoms were evaluated in 66 Iranian carpet weavers and 66 controls with similar age and gender characteristics using a questionnaire including questions on work-related respiratory symptoms in the past year, allergies, smoking habits, and work exposure duration. A total of 28 carpet weavers (42%) reported work-related respiratory symptoms. Incidences of all respiratory symptoms and most allergic symptoms were significantly higher in carpet weavers than in controls (p < 0.05−p < 0.001). Moreover, most respiratory and allergic symptoms in carpet weavers were significantly more prominent during working hours (p < 0.01−p < 0.001). Pulmonary function test results of the carpet weavers showed significant impairment compared with controls (p < 0.05−p < 0.001).

Respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function changes among carpet weavers in Iran.

This review traces some of the developments in population physiology based on contributions to the Annals over the last 25 years. Two broad themes are evident, physiological systems variation and adaptation, and by way of introduction an historical perspective of their relationship within human ecology is explored. Studies of physical fitness and work capacity, and the efforts to create standardized field procedures make up a number of the early papers. Longitudinal studies have provided reliable reference standards for Westernized populations, but are virtually non-existent for primitive groups. The relative importance of phenotypic and genotypic variations in working capacity have yet to be clearly defined. The level of habitual activity during childhood contributes to the development of ventilatory capacity though constitutional influences are of major importance. Variability in strength and motor performance of skeletal muscles are shown to have a direct bearing on aspects of growth, development and biological maturation. Physical and psychological stress in communities have been investigated. These and other studies contribute valuable data on the issue of stress, hypertension and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. On the theme of human adaptability, high altitude populations, variations in thermal tolerance and adaptations in ageing populations have all received recent investigation. Highland people of all ages have considerably larger lung volumes than coastal dwellers. Haematological, biochemical and pulmonary function show adaptive phenomena that vary in different highland groups. In the tropical biome, more recent work includes the functional consequences of malnutrition, ethnic and cultural differences in work capacity, and the effects of endemic disease on physical performance. Annals of Human Biology papers have more recently contributed to investigations on morphological and physiological changes with human ageing. Though there is a decline in the ability to adapt to environmental stresses with age this may be met by changes in adaptational strategy in physiological systems.

Physiological variation and adaptability in human populations

Respiratory symptoms and ventilatory capacity were studied in 97 women carpet weavers in a hand-made carpet weaving industry in Umtata, Transkei, South Africa. The controls were from a bottling plant in the same city. Both groups were Black Africans from the Xhosa-speaking population. The population we studied were non-smokers and there was no significant difference in age, race or height between the groups. The exposed weavers had significantly lower forced expiratory indices than the control group. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced mid-expiratory flow (FEF 25-75%), forced expiratory flow between 200 ml and 1200 ml of forced vital capacity (FEF 200-1200), and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were: 26.0%, 39.0%, 36.4% and 28.5% lower respectively in the exposed group compared with the controls. Mean forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory ratio (FEV1/FVC x 100) were 22.0% and 6.6% lower respectively in the exposed group compared with the controls. The percentage predicted (%pred) values of FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC ratio, FEF 25-75%, FEF 200-1200, and PEF in the exposed group were 82.9%, 77.1%, 95.6%, 64.6%, 72.2% and 82.8%, respectively. The prevalence of FEV1/FVC ratio less than 70% in the exposed group was 37.2%, while in the controls it was 12%. The exposed group reported a significantly higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms compared to the control. The prevalence of nasal symptoms and cough was 62.8% and 58.1%, respectively in the weavers. Weavers who reported cough, breathlessness, and wheezing had significantly (p < 0.01) lower pulmonary function than those who did not report these symptoms. The present study demonstrates that the continual exposure to dust in weavers in this industry is associated with significantly lower pulmonary function, higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, and weavers show signs of airway obstruction compared to workers not exposed to this type of dust. Women in the weaving industry have a significant occupationally related respiratory impairment.

N Shamsian

Papers

Respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function in a group of women weavers in South Africa.