The study was carried out on two groups at working age at Van Chang and Nhat villages of Nam Dinh province from end of 2002 to beginning of 2003. Group 1 included 180 mechanical workers at Van Chang village. Group 2 (control group) included 186 cultivators in Nhat village. Results: The percentage of people having history of respiratory diseases such as sore throat, acute and chronic bronchitis in Van Chang village was higher than those in Nhat village (48% vs. 40%). Respiratory function measure show that the percentage of abnormities of respiratory function were 17.3% in Van Chang village and 6.5% in Nhat village. The histories of working accidents in Van Chang village were 14.4% and in Nhat village were 4.8%. Workers at Van Chang machinery village have higher risk of anomalies of respiratory tract in comparison with people in agricultural villages.
Environment ; Health