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Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Automated Measurement of Pulmonary Emphysema and Small Airway Remodeling in Cigarette Smoke-exposed Mice
10:37

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Published on: January 16, 2015

Effects of passive smoking at work on respiratory symptoms, lung function, and bronchial responsiveness in

Jordan Minov1, Jovanka Karadzinska-Bislimovska, Kristin Vasilevska

  • 1Health and GA2LEN Collaborating Center, Institute for Occupational Health of R. Macedonia - WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational, Skopje, Macedonia. minovj@hotmail.com

Arhiv Za Higijenu Rada I Toksikologiju
|October 1, 2009
PubMed

This cross-sectional study compares respiratory symptoms, lung function, and bronchial responsiveness between 27 office cleaning women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at work and 57 unexposed controls. The age range of both groups was 24 to 56 years, and none of the women had ever smoked. Information on respiratory symptoms, cleaning work history, and passive smoking in the workplace were obtained with a questionnaire. The subjects also took a skin prick test to common inhalant allergens, a lung function test, and a histamine challenge. Despite smoking restriction in indoor environments, we found a high prevalence of passive smokers in the workplace (32.1 %). In these subjects we found a significantly higher prevalence of wheezing with breathlessness (25.9 % vs. 8.8 %; P=0.036), wheezing without cold (25.9 % vs. 7.0 %; P=0.016), and breathlessness after effort (29.6 % vs. 8.8 %; P=0.014) than in control subjects. Objective measurements showed a significantly lower MEF25 (53.6 % vs. 63.7 %; P=0.001) and a significantly higher prevalence of borderline bronchial hyperresponsiveness (22.2 % vs. 7.0 %; P=0.044) in the passive smokers in the workplace. This study provides evidence of adverse respiratory effects in office cleaning women associated with passive smoking in the workplace. Our findings support a stricter implementation of the current national law to protect respiratory health of all workers.

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