Recent progress in the study of occupational lung diseases in Romania

Our plain-English summary of Recent progress in the study of occupational lung diseases in Romania, by B. Barhad, L. Pilat, D. Teculescu (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1975).

The study

• Authors: B. Barhad, L. Pilat, D. Teculescu
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1975;32(2):164-8
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

This paper reviews studies of occupational lung diseases in Romania in the last two decades. Work concerned with the effects of exposure to textile fibres, irritant gases and fumes in the chemical industry, welding fumes, asbestos, cadmium oxide, and the relation between dust exposure, pneumoconiosis, and chronic bronchitis is briefly presented.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors reviewed Romanian research from the previous two decades on work-related breathing diseases, except silicosis. It covered textile dust, welding fumes, asbestos, chemical-industry irritant gases, cadmium oxide fumes, and dust and chronic bronchitis in miners. The asbestos section did not name fiber types. The first Romanian asbestosis cases were described in 1960 by Daniello and colleagues. A 1962 study by Pilat and colleagues of 40 workers handling asbestos found nine with obvious X-ray changes and five with early changes. A 1971 study by Pilat and colleagues of 79 cases of asbestosis found that lung function problems and symptoms increased as X-ray changes progressed. Within the same X-ray category, however, people differed greatly, and those with symptoms tended to have poorer lung function. In a shipyard study, chronic bronchitis affected 19% of welders and 11% of controls. All symptoms were more common in welders, but the difference was statistically significant only for breathlessness. That study's authors had reservations about this symptom because the workers knew their jobs could be hazardous. The authors acknowledged the limitations of a review like theirs.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: review of Romanian studies
• Who was studied: Romanian research of the previous two decades (article published 1975) on occupational respiratory diseases, excluding silicosis
• Exposure: Textile fibres, irritant gases and fumes in the chemical industry, welding fumes, asbestos (fiber type not named), cadmium oxide, and mineral dust in relation to pneumoconiosis and chronic bronchitis
• Main results:
  • The first Romanian cases of asbestosis were described in 1960 by Daniello et al.
  • Pilat et al. (1962) studied 40 workers handling asbestos and found nine cases with obvious radiographic changes and five with early changes
  • Pilat et al. (1971b) studied 79 cases of asbestosis. Lung function abnormalities and symptom severity increased with radiographic progression, but within each radiological category there were great differences in clinical picture and lung function
  • In the same 79-case study, among workers with a similar X-ray picture, those with symptoms tended to have greater impairment of lung function
  • In a shipyard study of 173 welders and 101 controls, chronic bronchitis was found in 19% of welders and 11% of controls. All symptoms were more frequent among welders, but the difference was significant only for breathlessness
  • The shipyard study's authors (Barhad et al., 1973) expressed reservations about the significance of breathlessness in a population aware of the potential hazard of its occupational exposure
• The authors' conclusion: The authors acknowledged the limitations of their review and said they hoped they had drawn an approximate picture of Romanian research interests in occupational respiratory diseases
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors noted the limitations of a review like theirs

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestos textiles.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Occupational Lung Disease, Pneumoconiosis.

Related studies

• Widening perspectives of occupational lung disease — I.J. Selikoff (1973)
• Relative importance of cigarette smoking in occupational lung disease — P.C. Elmes (1981)
• Health progress in an asbestos textile works — J. Mitchell (1961)
• Use of exhaled breath condensate to investigate occupational lung diseases — M. Corradi, P. Gergelova, et al. (2010)
• Exposures and mortality among chrysotile asbestos workers. Part II: mortality — J.M. Dement, R.L. Harris, et al. (1983)
• Environmental lung disease — M.X. FitzGerald, C.B. Carrington, et al. (1973)

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