ALOHA+ Job Exposure Matrix<\/a>, which estimates cumulative exposure to VGDF, pesticides, solvents and metals. <\/p>\nRespiratory outcomes included forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), the FEV1\/FVC ratio and respiratory symptoms.\n<\/p>\n
Researchers used multilevel regression models adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, cumulative smoking exposure, education, body mass index and baseline FVC.\n<\/p>\n
Workplace exposures and declining lung function<\/p>\n
Moderate and high cumulative exposure to VGDF were associated with greater reductions in the FEV1\/FVC ratio over follow-up.\n<\/p>\n
Compared with the reference exposure group, moderate VGDF exposure was associated with a regression coefficient of \u22121.34, whereas high exposure was associated with a coefficient of \u22121.79.\n<\/p>\n
Pesticide exposure showed similar associations, with regression coefficients of \u22121.11 (95% CI \u22122.11 to \u22120.08) for low exposure and \u22122.16 for high exposure.\n<\/p>\n
These findings suggest that occupational exposure to these substances may contribute to a greater decline in the FEV1\/FVC ratio over time, although the observed associations were modest.\n<\/p>\n
No significant associations were observed with changes in FEV1 or FVC alone, or with incident chronic airflow obstruction.\n<\/p>\n
Pesticide exposure was also associated with an increased risk of wheeze, with statistically significant associations reported for both moderate and high cumulative exposure.\n<\/p>\n
Associations did not differ significantly between men and women, and there was weak evidence of non-linear exposure\u2013response relationships for respiratory symptoms.\n<\/p>\n
No significant associations were identified between solvent or metal exposure and the respiratory outcomes examined.\n<\/p>\n
Implications for respiratory surveillance and prevention<\/p>\n
The authors noted that the findings reinforce the importance of considering occupational exposures when assessing respiratory symptoms and declining lung function, alongside established risk factors such as smoking.\n<\/p>\n
The potential value of routine occupational history-taking and respiratory surveillance, particularly among workers in high-exposure settings where preventive measures may be limited, was also highlighted.\n<\/p>\n
However, the study had several limitations. The authors acknowledged that occupational exposures were estimated rather than directly measured, and the job exposure matrix may not fully reflect working conditions in LMICs.\n<\/p>\n
In addition, lung function was measured at only two time points, while substantial loss to follow-up, partly linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, may have introduced selection bias. The observational design also prevented causal conclusions, and broad exposure categories made it difficult to identify the specific substances involved.\n<\/p>\n
Although the associations were modest at an individual level, the authors concluded that the findings support continued respiratory monitoring and efforts to reduce potentially harmful occupational exposures, particularly in LMICs.\n<\/p>\n
Reference
Quintero-Santofimio V et al. Association of respiratory health with occupational exposures in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) cohort: a multinational longitudinal study<\/a>. BMJ Open Respir Res 2026;13:e004213. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Occupational exposure to vapours, gases, dusts, fumes (VGDF) and pesticides is associated with a greater decline in lung…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[134,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-638201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}