Acute respiratory symptoms in workers exposed to vanadium-rich fuel-oil ash

Occupational exposure to fuel-oil ash, with its high vanadium content, may cause respiratory illness. It is unclear, however, what early acute health effects may occur on the pathway from normal to compromised respiratory function.

Using a repeated measures design, we studied prospectively 18 boilermakers overhauling an oil-fired boiler and 11 utility worker controls. Subjects completed a respiratory symptom diary five times per day by using a 0-3 scale where 0=symptom not present, 1=mild symptom, 2=moderate symptom, and 3=severe symptom. Daily symptom severity was calculated by using the highest reported score each day for upper and lower respiratory symptoms. Daily symptom frequency was calculated by summing all upper or lower airway symptom reports, then dividing by number of reporting times. Respiratory symptom frequency and severity were analyzed for dose-response relationships with estimated vanadium and PM(10) doses to the lung and upper airway by using robust regression.

During the overhaul, 72% of boilermakers reported lower airway symptoms, and 67% reported upper airway symptoms. These percentages were 27 and 36 for controls. Boilermakers had more frequent and more severe upper and lower respiratory symptoms compared to utility workers, and this difference was greatest during interior boiler work. A statistically significant dose-response pattern for frequency and severity of both upper and lower respiratory symptoms was seen with vanadium and PM(10) in the three lower exposure quartiles. However, there was a reversal in the dose-response trend in the highest exposure quartile, reflecting a possible healthy worker effect.

Boilermakers experience more frequent and more severe respiratory symptoms than utility workers. This is most statistically significant during boiler work and is associated with increasing dose estimates of lung and nasal vanadium and PM(10).