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Woodworkers and the inflammatory effects of softwood/hardwood dust: evidence from nasal cytology

  • Rhinology
  • Published:
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An Erratum to this article was published on 18 April 2016

Abstract

Our primary aim was to use nasal cytology to compare a group of woodworkers with a group of unexposed subjects to see whether wood dust exposure correlates with specific patterns of inflammatory or infectious rhinitis. A secondary aim was to seek any differences in nasal symptoms or nasal cytology between workers exposed to softwood vs hardwood dust, thereby comparing the inflammatory harmful potential of the two woods. Among 117 woodworkers at factories in the Veneto region (Italy), 40 exposed to either softwood or hardwood dust were assessed by means of a questionnaire, nasal cytology, and personal wood dust sampling, and compared with 40 unexposed controls. Woodworkers reported significantly more nasal symptoms than controls (p = 0.0007). The woodworker group’s nasal smears contained significantly more neutrophils (p < 0.00001) and lymphocytes (p = 0.02) than the control group’s. The softwood workers had significantly lower levels of personal exposure to wood dust than the hardwood workers (p = 0.04); there were no significant differences in age, history of cigarette smoking, or period of exposure between these two sub-cohorts of woodworkers. A statistical trend indicated that softwood workers had more eosinophils (p = 0.05) and lymphocytes (p = 0.05) in their rhinocytograms. Nasal cytology revealed chronic inflammatory rhinitis in a significant proportion of woodworkers’ enroled in this study. It also suggested a different harmful potential for softwood and hardwood dust. Nasal cytology could prove useful in screening woodworkers for chronic inflammatory rhinitis. Further investigations are needed to examine the role of different types of wood dust in nasal inflammation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Frances Coburn for correcting the English version of this paper.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Neurosciences DNS, Otolaryngology Section, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 2, 35128, Padua, Italy

      Andrea Lovato, Giancarlo Ottaviano & Gino Marioni

    2. Department of Neurosciences DNS, Otolaryngology Section, Treviso Regional Hospital Branch, University of Padova, Padua, Italy

      Claudia Staffieri

    3. Department of Medicine DIMED, University of Padova, Padua, Italy

      Rocco Cappellesso & Luciano Giacomelli

    4. Department of Cardiologic, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, Preventive Medicine and Risk Assessment Unit, University of Padova, Padua, Italy

      Giovanni Battista Bartolucci & Maria Luisa Scapellato

    Authors
    1. Andrea Lovato
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Andrea Lovato.

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    Conflict of interest

    This was not an industry supported study. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. The study was supported partly by Grant No. 60A07-8485/13 (G. Marioni) from the University of Padova, and partly by Grant No. 15/2009 (G. B. Bartolucci) from the Italian Workers’ Compensation Authority (INAIL).

    Statement of human rights

    All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of our institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

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    Informed consent was obtained from all individuals participating in the study.

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    A. Lovato and C. Staffieri contributed equally to the manuscript’s preparation.

    An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-4030-5.

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    Lovato, A., Staffieri, C., Ottaviano, G. et al. Woodworkers and the inflammatory effects of softwood/hardwood dust: evidence from nasal cytology. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 273, 3195–3200 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-3989-2

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-3989-2

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