[Industrial bronchitis in workers exposed to hydroalcohol]

To identify the association between industrial bronchitis and exposure to hydroalcohol.

In a prospective study, 80 workers exposed to hydroalcohol answered a standardized questionnaire and had two spirometry tests based on the American Thorax Society (ATS) criteria, to evaluate functional capacity and predominant spirometric patterns. The test included the parameters: forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), the ratio FEV1/FVC, the peak expiratory flow (PEF), the forced expiratory flow 25-50 (FEF50) and the forced expiratory flow 25-75% (FEF 25%-75%). Fisher exact test was used to identify differences. An environmental sampling of hydroalcohols was done as well.

85 % Of workers were women and 15 % men, with respiratory symptoms as follows: 25 % with cough and expectoration, 14 % thoracic pressure feeling, 23 % dyspnea; 36 % eye, nose or throat irritation. The spirometry results were: 25 % for pulmonary normal pattern; 66 % had obstructive pattern; 3 % had restrictive patterns and 6 % mixed pattern. 25 % of workers with obstructive pattern and 10 % of normal pattern had symptoms. It was obtained an OR = 1.9 (95 % CI = 1.135-3.195; p = 0.021) for the time of exposure to hydroalcohols and the presence of industrial bronchitis. The monitoring of hydroalcohols reported: 131.1 mg/m3 for isopropyl alcohol and 438.3 mg/m3; 49 workers (61 %) had bronchitis symptoms and 58 (72 %) showed obstructive or mixed patterns in the spirometry tests. The exposure to hydroalcohols was below the limits established by the Mexican Official Norm.