Pulmonary functional tests and respiratory symptoms among women hairdressers of Shahrekord

Nowadays, occupational asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonia are important medical problems. Because of ever-increasing use of different materials in industries and occupational places, hypersensitivity reactions and asthma have increased significantly. Based on the increasing rate of symptoms such as cough, wheezing and other manifestations of asthma among women hairdressers, we decided to determine possible correlation between hairdressing job and asthmatic symptoms.

This descriptive and analytical study was preformed on two groups: the case group consisted of 106 female hairdressers and the control group consisted of 100 housekeeper women. A questionnaire was filled and chest examination and spirometry were performed for each person.

The prevalence’s of obstructive and restrictive pulmonary diseases among hairdresser group were 8.3% and 74.5% respectively. Whereas in the control group, the prevalence of obstructive and restrictive diseases were 4.7% and 40.6% percent respectively. The prevalence of cough and wheezing among hairdressers were 25.5% and 1.9% respectively.

Our results revealed that hairdressers need more preventive pulmonary care. Since the prevalence of pulmonary restrictive diseases was high in the both groups, present standard criteria of pulmonary function tests seem to be inappropriate for Shahrekord area so revision of these criteria on the basis of the Asian standard is recommended.