Byssinosis and other respiratory ailments: a survey of 6,631 cotton textile employees.

A Pulmonary Function Survey involving a questionnaire and pulmonary function testing was carried out in 14 plants of a large cotton textile manufacturing corporation. The edited records of 6,631 employees were analyzed to help identify the prevalence and location of byssinosis and other respiratory ailments and to explore the environmental conditions associated with them. A majority of the complaints of byssinosis were found among the relatively small subset of employees located in the high dust work areas of opening, picking, and carding. Byssinosis was significantly associated with bronchitis. Smoking was significantly associated with byssinosis for employees in opening, picking, and carding. While 3% of the population had subjective symptoms (history) of byssinosis, 0.8% indicated both symptoms and objective sign by a 10% or greater drop during the working day of the one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1). The techniques commonly used to predict FEV1 should employ race as a predictive factor.