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Objective: Dust exposure is high in several industries. We investigated associations of exposure in paper mills, wood pellet plants, and iron foundries with lung function impairment., Methods: Respirable silica, inhalable paper dust, or inhalable wood dust were collected as personal samples and spirometry was performed. Multiple linear regression analyzed associations with FEV 1 %pred and FVC%pred., Results: Wood pellet workers with high exposure to inhalable dust had lower FEV 1 %pred (95% CI) (-9.4 [-16 to -2.6]) and FVC%pred (-9.8 [-15 to -4.0]) compared with lowest exposure level. Workers at paper mills and foundries had no dose-dependent association but lower FEV 1 %pred and FVC%pred than in workers at wood pellets plants., Conclusions: Increased exposure to inhalable wood dust is associated with decreased lung function. Foundry and paper mill workers have generally lower lung function than wood pellet workers. Spirometry should be considered in workers in industries with airborne particulate matter pollution., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None declared., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Objective: We present quantitative exposure-response data on silica exposure in male Swedish iron foundry workers for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory morbidity., Methods: This research is a cohort study of 2063 male Swedish iron foundry workers. From the Swedish National Patient Registers, data on morbidity incidence were retrieved. A historical measurement database of 1667 respirable silica exposure measurements from 10 Swedish iron foundries was used to calculate the cumulative exposure dose for each worker., Results: Increased morbidity risk for the whole group of foundry workers was determined for ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchitis, and pneumonia. In addition, an increased risk for COPD at cumulative silica exposures ranging from 0.11 to 0.84 mg/m 3 year is presented., Conclusions: The study presents a significantly increased COPD risk at cumulative silica exposures below the Swedish occupational exposure limit., Competing Interests: Andersson, Hedbrant, Bryngelsson, Vihlborg, Särndahl, and Westberg have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)

Objective: To investigate the increased risk for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in men and women with hand-arm vibration (HAV) exposure., Design: Case-control study of CTS where 4396 cases was obtained from National Outpatient Register between 2005 through 2016. Cases were matched to controls and exposure was estimated using a job exposure matrix., Results: Exposure to HAV increased the risk of CTS with an OR of 1.61 (95% CI 1.46-1.77). The risk was highest in men <30 years of age and among women <30 years no increased risk was observed. The risk increased with a mean year exposure above 2.5 m/s2 to OR 1.84 (95% CI 1.38-2.46)., Conclusions: HAV exposure increase the risk of CTS in both genders, with highest risk increase in younger men. This emphasize identification of HAV exposure in patients with CTS., Competing Interests: Vihlborg, Pettersson, Makdoumi, Wikström, Bryngelsson, Selander, and Graff have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.)