Oil Spill
Aftermath: Prolonged Respiratory Problems
[Posted 9/18/07]
An
article published by the American Thoracic Society
reports that workers and volunteers who helped clean
up an oil spill off the coast of Spain in 2002
exhibit respiratory problems relating to their
exposure even two years later.
A team
of Spanish researchers from the Hospital
Universitario 12 de Octubre in Madrid evaluated the
prevalence of respiratory problems in local
fishermen and their family members who participated
in the cleanup of heavy contamination from the oil
tanker Prestige without the benefit of
personal protective equipment. It is believed to be
the first research to examine the long-term effects
of this kind of exposure on respiratory health.
One to
two years after the spill and initial clean-up
efforts, researchers administered a questionnaire
to fishermen from the area of the spill. Data were
obtained from 6,780 respondents, with approximately
two-thirds of the men and more than half the women
indicating they were direct participants in the oil
spill clean-up.
“Prevalence
rates of lower and upper respiratory tract symptoms
were significantly higher in (those) who had
participated in clean-up activities,”
according to
Francisco Pozo-Rodriguez, MD, lead investigator of
the study.
Researchers found that clean-up workers were 1.7
times more likely than others to report lower
respiratory tract symptoms. Men who participated in
the clean-up were twice as likely to report chronic
cough or phlegm or asthma within the previous year,
compared to men who were not involved in the
clean-up.
Female clean-up workers were 1.7 times more likely
than others to report chronic phlegm, and 1.6
times more likely to report nasal symptoms than
those not involved in the clean-up.
While the increased
prevalence of upper- and lower-respiratory tract
symptoms persisted for more than a year following
the last clean-up activity, and were “still
significant when more than 20 months had elapsed,”
rates did show eventual decline, suggesting that
the damage may be, in part, reversible.
The
findings were reported in the September issue of
the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical
Care Medicine.
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