[Pulmonary function in Norwegian farmers keeping domestic animals]

In a group of farmers keeping domestic animals, all pulmonary function tests, except for PEF, showed lower values than in a Norwegian reference population. Spirometric values for FVC, FEV1, and PEF were higher among pig farmers than among other farmers. Poultry farmers had lower values of PEF compared to other farmers. One third of all farmers had values of FEF25-75% that were depressed more than 20%, possibly indicating that the smaller, more peripheral airways more frequently are affected than the central airways. No single causal factor for the reduced lung function was found, but farmers that worked in newer cow-stables had a lower lung function than other farmers, especially if the houses were built in the interval 1975-84.