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Updated: May 5, 2026
Impact Assessment of Repeated Exposure of Organotypic 3D Bronchial and Nasal Tissue Culture Models to Whole Cigarette Smoke
Published on: February 12, 2015
Five-year lung function observations and associations with a smoking ban among healthy miners at high altitude (4000
Denis Vinnikov1, Paul D Blanc, Nurlan Brimkulov
1From the Kumtor Gold Company (Drs Vinnikov and Redding-Jones), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; University of California (Dr Blanc), San Francisco, Calif; and Kyrgyz State Medical Academy (Dr Brimkulov), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Objective:
To assess the annual lung function decline associated with the reduction of secondhand smoke exposure in a high-altitude industrial workforce.
Methods:
We performed pulmonary function tests annually among 109 high-altitude gold-mine workers over 5 years of follow-up. The first 3 years included greater likelihood of exposure to secondhand smoke exposure before the initiation of extensive smoking restrictions that came into force in the last 2 years of observation.
Results:
In repeated measures modeling, taking into account the time elapsed in relation to the smoking ban, there was a 115 ± 9 (standard error) mL per annum decline in lung function before the ban, but a 178 ± 20 (standard error) mL per annum increase afterward (P < 0.001, both slopes).
Conclusion:
Institution of a workplace smoking ban at high altitude may be beneficial in terms of lung function decline.
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