The asbestos textile industry is characterized by the highest asbestos ambient air concentration of those workers who have suffered from high incidence of lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma, and other asbestos related diseases (ARDs). Also, asbestos dust occurred in a factory can be disseminated into the environmental air around the factory, which can cause ARDs among residents of the factory. High lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma mortality rates among asbestos textile workers were established, and increase of ARDs among residents around the factory has been reported. A large number of environmentally exposed residents as well as severity of health problems among asbestos textile workers would cause huge social problems. The high exposure group needs to be monitored for early detection and management. In addition, a nationwide mandatory malignant mesothelioma registration system to identify exposure sources and high risk groups might help to predict and manage ARDs.
Asbestos ; Dust ; Environmental Exposure ; Incidence ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mesothelioma ; Social Problems ; Textile Industry ; Textiles

It is generally recognized that the environmental noise of the various working places thought to be the cause of hearing disturbance. This survey was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of noise-induced occupational hearing loss among the weavers of 39 textile industries in Taegu, Korea. For this survey, 432 male workers and 2,023 female workers were examined their hearing acuity by individual pure tone threshold determination test(air conduction), from November, 1972, to January, 1973. Main findings were as follows: 1. The mean of noise intensity of the 54 weaving rooms was, in over all, 95.6+/-4.2dB (A), 95.9+/-4.0dB (B) and 96.2+/-3.9dB (C). 2. The mean hearing threshold levels by service years in the 4,000 Hz were intensively increased from 1st to 3rd year and slightly decreased, than that of 3rd year, from after 3rd to 5th year, after 5th year that increased slightly. 3.The mean hearing threshold levels by frequencies were highest in the 4,000Hz(male:25.0+/-11.3dB, female:22.0+/-10.2dB) and followed by 6,000, 8,000 and 3,000Hz. 4. The mean hearing threshold level of the 6,000Hz(male:17.0dB, female:17.9dB)was higher than that of 4,000Hz(male:16.4dB, female:17.1dB) in the 1st service year. 5. The mean hearing loss of examinees was 16.2+/-8.0dB in male and 15.4+/-7.8dB in female.
Daegu* ; Female ; Hearing Loss ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Noise ; Prevalence ; Textile Industry ; Textiles*

To assess the effect of noise on the blood pressure of workers, 70 weaving and 70 refining female workers in 15 to 24 years of ages were tested for the changes of blood pressure before and after exposure to the noise. The noise levels at work place were 99 dB (A) for weavers and 80 dB(A) for refiners. The mean age of refiners was 17.7 years and that of weavers was 18.6 years, and the difference in mean ages was statistically significant (p<0.05). The means of heights, weights and working durations were not significantly different between two groups. The mean systolic blood pressure of the weavers was 112.5mmHg before exposure to the noise and it was increased to 115.7mmHg after exposure to 99 dB(A) of noise for 30 minutes, and the mean diastolic blood pressure from 71.6mmHg to 74.1mmHg. These increments of blood pressure were statistically significant (p<0.05). The mean systolic blood pressure of the refiners was decreased from 108.9mmHg to 106.7mmHg after exposure to 80 dB(A) of noise for 30 minutes, and the mean diastolic blood pressure from 67.3mmHg to 67.1mmHg. These changes of blood pressure were not statistically significant. The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the weavers before exposure to the noise were significantly higher than that of refiners (p<0.05). The difference of blood pressure between refiners and weavers was significantly associated with noises (p<0.05), and not ages and their interactions. The study results support the hypothesis that exposure to excessive noise increases the blood pressure of workers.
Blood Pressure* ; Female ; Humans ; Noise ; Textile Industry* ; Textiles* ; Weights and Measures ; Workplace

To investigate the sleeping patterns and gastrointestinal disorders of shift workers, the auther studied 434 female workers who worked at textile industry ill Taejon city from september 1 ,1992 to september 31 ,1992. Shift pattern were divided into 3 categories; 3 shift (shifts per 8 hours), 2 shift (day and night shift) and day work. The results obtained were as follows: 1. The average sleeping hours when adjusted for the education level of the total study subjects was 6.1 hours. That of 3 shift workers was 6.1 hours, 2 shift workers was 6.0hours, but that of day workers was 6.5 hours. There were no significant difference among the shift workers. 2. For the 3 shift workers, the average physiologic adjusted duration in day shirt(2.2 days) was shorter than that or night shift(2.7 days) and there were significant difference among the rotating shift works (P<0.001). The sleeping problems in day shift was less than those of night shift (P<0.001). 3. 44.9% of 3 shift workers, 39.3% of 2 shift workers and 33.1% of day workers complained gastrointestinal symptoms when adjusted for the age, education level, job tenure, work post. And the rates of gastrointestinal symptoms complained increase with job tenures (P<0.001). 4. The most frequent gastrointestinal diseases were gastitis and gastric ulcer with 14.2 %, Irritable bowel syndrome with 3.1%, duodenitis and duodenal ulcer with 2.1% and combined gastrointestinal disease with 2.1%. Age, eating habit, amount of coffee per day, job tenure, work post and shift pattern showed no significant difference with the gastrointestinal diseases when adjusted for the age. According to the above results, the auther suggested that the shift pattern and job tenure can affect to the sleeping problem and gastrointestinal symptoms.
Coffee ; Daejeon ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Duodenitis ; Eating ; Education ; Female* ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Humans ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome ; Stomach Ulcer ; Textile Industry ; Textiles*

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, asbestos-related chest radiograph abnormalities and abnormal pulmonary function tests among former asbestos textile factory workers and to reveal the related factors of these abnormal findings. METHODS: There were 119 persons former asbestos textile industry workers registered in the health management pocketbook. Of 97 retired asbestos workers living in Busan, Yangsan and Gimhae, 63(64.9%) retired asbestos workers were enrolled into this study. The researchers administered questionnaires, and performed chest radiographys, and pulmonary function tests (PFT) on participants. The survey was conducted during July, 2009. RESULTS: Among former workers the number of lung fibrosis, pleural plaque, pleural calcification, and pleural thickening was 13(20.6%), 6(9.5%), 3(4.8%), and 1(1.6%) in chest radiography, respectively. Asbestos-related disorders and abnormal pulmonary function test groups had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms. Participants with crocidolite exposure or long latency period had higher asbestos-related x-ray findings or abnormal PFT findings. CONCLUSIONS: Former asbestos textile workers had a high rate of asbestos-related disorders. Workers with crocidolite exposure or having had a longer latency period had more asbestos-related disorders. Because gradual increase of asbestos related disorders among high asbestos exposure group is expected, sustained, and intensive management is needed for these former workers.
Asbestos ; Asbestos, Crocidolite ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Latency Period (Psychology) ; Lung ; Prevalence ; Questionnaires ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Retirement ; Textile Industry ; Textiles ; Thorax

The present study was conducted to investigate the status of industrial injuries through a prospective study for a year from August 1980 to July 1981. The subjects were 15 textile industries which were selected by random sampling in Daegu. The results obtained are as follows: Annal over-all incidence rate of industrial injuries was 3.3 percent and the rate showed 6.7 percent in male and 2 percent in female. The rate showed decreasing tendency with larger scale of industries. By the age group, 15-19 age group was the highest as 49.3 percent. Age specific incidence rate of industrial injuries revealed highest as 4.7 precent among the group the group of 30 years old and over. By the years of service, 57.1 percent of the total cases belonged to the group less than 1 year and the rate revealed increasing tendency with shorter period of service. The highest frequency in industrial injuries was observed at the point of 3 hours after the beginning of the work in a day as 18.1 percent. Frequency of industrial injuries showed highest as 27.7 percent in winter time and showed 14 percent and 11.8% percent in January and August, respectively. By the cause of injuries, machinery accident showed the highest as 39.2 percent and followed by the accidents due to striking against object as 17.8 percent, fall of ground as 16.3% percent and hand tool as 7.2% percent. Frequency of injured parts of body was highest as 43.9 percent in fingers. The frequency was much higher in upper extremities (66.9%) than in lower extremities (17.6%). By the kind of injuries, laceration wound was highest as 35.7% percent and the next was superficial injury and contusion as 35.1 percent. By the duration of treatment, most of the cases was belonged to the group less than 1 month as 79.1 percent and the duration showed prolonging tendency with larger scale of industries.
Adult ; Contusions ; Daegu* ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Female ; Fingers ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lacerations ; Lower Extremity ; Male ; Prospective Studies ; Strikes, Employee ; Textile Industry ; Textiles* ; Upper Extremity ; Wounds and Injuries

Various reactive dyes can elicit occupational asthma in exposed textile industry workers. To date, there has been no report of occupational asthma caused by the red dye Synozol Red-K 3BS (Red-K). Here, we report a 38-year-old male textile worker with occupational asthma and rhinitis induced by inhalation of Red-K. He showed positive responses to Red-K extract on skin-prick testing and serum specific IgE antibodies to Red-K-human serum albumin conjugate were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A bronchoprovocation test with Red-K extract resulted in significant bronchoconstriction. These findings suggest that the inhalation of the reactive dye Red-K can induce IgE-mediated occupational asthma and rhinitis in exposed workers.
Adult ; Antibodies ; Asthma ; Asthma, Occupational ; Bronchoconstriction ; Coloring Agents ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E ; Inhalation ; Male ; Occupations ; Rhinitis ; Serum Albumin ; Textile Industry ; Textiles

Health care management for industrial workers in Korea in terms of occupational health launched in 1953 when the Labour Act was enacted. Nevertheless, negligence of government on reality of workers health was said to be inevitable under the cloak of urgent fast development in way of industrialization. Happily, however, since 1981 when Industrial Safety and Health Law was enacted, periodical evaluation of work environment and physical check-up of workers have been worked out by several professional organizations under the umbrella of Korean Industrial Health Association. In 1986, for about 5,700 industries, a total of 125,000 checks of work environment including the agents of dust, noise, lead, organic solvents, special chemicals, and of others were carried out, and on the other hand, a total of 340,000 physical check-ups were performed in accordance with exposed hazardous agents in the work-lines. The summarized results of the above achievements were as follows. 1. The case detection rates of occupational diseases among workers in industries of Korea has been revealed to be half of Japanese ones since 1975 decreasing from 2.3% in 1975 to 1.7% in 1987. However, it is too hard to believe that the above detection rate which is lower than that of Japan indicates the real prevalence rate of occupational diseases among industrial workers of Korea. It may be underestimated by defects in management of health care system for workers in Korea. 2. A total of 6,942 cases (1.65%) of occupational diseases were detected through 421,019 spells of check-up from 345,780 industrial workers in 1987. Detection rate by industry was highest among coal mines and secondly highest among mines other than coal ones. 3. Detection rate by hazardous agent was highest among workers in relation to dust, and secondly highest to noise. Case detection rate in relation to organic solvent, lead, special chemicals and others was less than 0.1% in total, which is very low comparing with that in Japan. There should be some modification in the check-up management. 4. A total of 32,035 (25.5%) work points was found to be improper showing higher level of hazardous agent than the TLV. Actually, a total of 125,721 work points was evaluated from 5,695 industries. The rate of detecting improper environment was highest among mines other than coal mines. Second highest was in textile manufacturing industries. 5. Noise and dust are the typical agents of which levels in workplace were high in most of industries. Levels of organic solvents, lead, and others were higher than TLV in 9.5-17.0% of samples tested. 6. In relation to noise, the rate of noise level exceeding TLV was higher in mines and textile industries. However, there were less workers of hearing loss in textile industries. 7. In relation to dust, the rate of dust concentration exceeding TLV was higher in non-metal manufacturing industries and mines. However, the majority(92.0%) of pneumoconiosis were detected from workers of mines. Rare cases of pneumoconiosis were detected from workers of textile industries.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Coal ; Delivery of Health Care ; Dust ; Hand ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Japan ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Malpractice ; Noise ; Occupational Diseases* ; Occupational Health ; Pneumoconiosis ; Prevalence ; Societies ; Solvents ; Textile Industry ; Textiles

BACKGROUND: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) defined that asbestos is a group 1 substance that causes lung cancer, mesothelioma (pleura and peritoneum), laryngeal cancer, and ovarian cancer in humans. Many studies on lung cancer, and mesothelioma caused by asbestos exposure have been conducted, but there was no case report of ovarian cancer due to asbestos exposure in Korea. We describe a case of ovarian cancer caused by asbestos exposure in a worker who worked at an asbestos textile factory for 3 years and 7 months in the late 1970s. CASE PRESENTATION: A 57-year-old woman visited the hospital because she had difficulty urinating. Ovarian cancer was suspected in radiologic examination, and exploratory laparotomy was performed. She was diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer. The patient did not undergo postoperative chemotherapy and recovered. She joined the asbestos factory in March 1976 and engaged in asbestos textile twisting and spinning for 1 year, 2 years and 7 months respectively. In addition, she lived near the asbestos factory for more than 20 years. There was no other specificity or family history. CONCLUSION: Considering the patient’s occupational and environmental history, it is estimated that she had been exposed to asbestos significantly, so we determined that ovarian cancer in the patient is highly correlated with the occupational exposure of asbestos and environmental exposure is a possible cause as well. Social devices are needed to prevent further exposure to asbestos. It is also necessary to recognize that ovarian cancer can occur in workers who have previously been exposed to asbestos, and the education and social compensation for those workers are needed.
Asbestos ; Compensation and Redress ; Drug Therapy ; Education ; Environmental Exposure ; Female ; Humans ; International Agencies ; Korea ; Laparotomy ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; Lung Neoplasms ; Mesothelioma ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; Occupational Exposure ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Textile Industry ; Textiles

Humans ; Interior Design and Furnishings ; Manufacturing Industry ; Noise, Occupational ; Occupational Exposure ; Textile Industry