An epidemiologic study of respiratory health effects in a group of North Carolina furniture workers.

Woodworking is known to be associated with nasal cancer and with western red cedar asthma, but research is inconsistent with regard to respiratory health effects among furniture workers. The authors tested the hypotheses that employment in a North Carolina hardwood furniture plant was related to the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and to impairment of pulmonary function. Chronic symptom prevalence generally showed no significant differences between wood dust jobs and control exposures; however, frequent sneezing and eye irritation were significantly (P less than .05) correlated with wood dust exposed jobs; in both cases the prevalence odds ratio was 4.0. Peak flow was the only pulmonary function measure that correlated significantly (P = .0345) with wood dust employment. The difference in forced vital capacity suggested a weak association with current employment in finishing jobs, whereas the difference in peak flow showed a modest correlation with the fraction of particulate less than 10 microns. The relevance of the present associations to regulatory changes and research needs is discussed.