Original scientific paper
A school children study on the respiratory effects of air-borne manganese
O. Hrustić
; Institut za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada, Zagreb, Hrvatska
M. Šarić
; Institut za medicinska istraživanja i medicinu rada, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
In a manganese contaminated town area with a ferroalloy plant and in a clean control area a study of respiratory impairment in 288 school children (2nd formers) and members of their families was performed from 1st November 1972 until 30th April 1973. The study included the measurements of forced expiratory volumes (FEV0.75 and FEV1.0%) in children at the beginning (November) and before the end (March) of the study as well as a follow-up of acute respiratory diseases during the entire period of six months in all members of the families. The study was repeated during a corresponding period in 1974/75 but in another group of school children of the same age and in their families. As both studies showed similar results, only those of the first study are presented in this paper. The obtained data show that the incidence of acute respiratory diseases was somewhat higher in the town with the ferroalloy plant than in the control area. In the town with the plant no consistent differences were found between the zones in which the schools attended by the children included in the study were located. A tendency towards a slight decrease of forced expiratory volumes in children as one moves further from the plant was also observed. In interpreting the results the authors stress a possible role of a number of interfering factors that could not be completely controlled.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
159996
URI
Publication date:
14.10.1980.
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