Cardiopulmonary functions of Nigerian female flour mill workers occupationally exposed to flour dust

Sir, It is worthy to comment on the interesting study by Maduka et al.[1] published in April–June 2019 issue of The Egyptian Journal of Chest Diseases and Tuberculosis. On applying spirometry, the authors measured different parameters of pulmonary function tests (PFT). They found that the peak expiratory flow rate, forced vital capacity, and forced expiratory volume measured at the first second were significantly lower in the studied patients relative to the controls (P<0.05)[1]. Moreover, the PFT parameters decreased with the increased duration of flour dust exposure[1]. I presume that such results ought to be taken cautiously owing to the presence of the following methodological limitation: defining which PFT values are normal and which are below the lower limit of normal in a particular population relies upon employing reference equations derived from that population[2]. Truly, many population-specific PFT references have been constructed to be employed in the clinical field and research studies[234]. In the methodology, the authors regrettably did not mention which PFT reference was used to evaluate the recorded PFT components. To my knowledge, the reference equations for spirometric indices in the general adult population in Nigeria have been launched in 2017[5]. I presume that employing Nigerian-specific spirometric equations could yield a better idea on the consequence of flour dust exposure on the pulmonary functions in the studied Nigerian female flour mill workers. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-SA

5 more references, whose wording the paper’s licence keeps private.

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.