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Dust exposure and lung function among firefighters involved in rescue and relief operations after the Great East
Akane Takahashi1, Toshiya Irokawa1,2, Ritsuko Arakawa3
1Department of Occupational Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan.
Objectives:
This study aimed to analyze the effects of dust exposure on lung function in firefighters engaged in the rescue activities after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE).
Methods:
The study included 42 firefighters from 6 fire departments in the coastal area of Miyagi Prefecture. Annual changes in lung function were compared between health examinations conducted before and after disaster. The associations between changes in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) during this period and factors such as smoking status, working hours in the week, use of respiratory protective equipment, and body mass index were examined.
Results:
During the disaster period, the decline in FEV1 was greater in nonsmokers (-32 mL/y; 95% CI, -81 to -13 mL/y) than in smokers (-8.0 mL/y; 95% CI, -40 to 10 mL/y). However, overall, only smoking status was significantly associated with FEV1 decline. The impact of dust exposure was smaller than that of smoking.
Conclusions:
This study found no severe or irreversible health effects of dust exposure on lung function among firefighters engaged in rescue activities during the GEJE. However, these results suggest that temporary and minor effects on lung function cannot be ruled out, highlighting the need to establish a specialized health management system to monitor and manage health risks for rescue workers responding to future large-scale disasters in Japan.
