Introduction

Oil spill response and cleanup (OSRC) workers had potentially stressful experiences during mitigation efforts following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Smelling chemicals; skin or clothing contact with oil; heat stress; handling oily plants/wildlife or dead animal recovery; and/or being out of regular work may have posed a risk to worker respiratory health through psychological stress mechanisms.

Objective

To evaluate the association between six potentially stressful oil spill experiences and lung function among OSRC workers 1–3 years following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, while controlling for primary oil spill inhalation hazards and other potential confounders.

Methods

Of 6811 GuLF STUDY participants who performed OSRC work and completed a quality spirometry test, 4806 provided information on all exposures and confounders. We carried out complete case analysis and used multiple imputation to assess risk among the larger sample. Potentially stressful work experiences were identified from an earlier study of these workers. The lung function parameters of interest include the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁, mL), the forced vital capacity (FVC, mL) and the ratio (FEV₁/FVC, %).

Results

On average, participants in the analytic sample completed spirometry tests 1.7 years after the spill. Among workers with at least 2 acceptable FEV₁ and FVC curves, workers with jobs that involved oily plants/wildlife or dead animal recovery had lower values for FEV₁ (Mean difference: −53 mL, 95% CI: −84, −22), FVC (Mean difference: −45 mL, 95% CI: −81, −9) and FEV₁/FVC (Mean difference: −0.44%, 95% CI: −0.80, −0.07) compared to unexposed workers in analyses using multiple imputation.

Conclusions

Workers involved in handling oily plants/wildlife or dead animal recovery had lower lung function than unexposed workers after accounting for other OSRC inhalation hazards.

中文翻译：

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Deepwater Horizo​​n溢油反应与清理工作经验与肺功能之间的关联

介绍

在2010年“深水地平线”灾难发生后的减灾工作中，溢油应急响应和清理（OSRC）工人可能会承受压力。闻到化学品；皮肤或衣服接触油脂；热应激; 处理油性植物/野生动物或死动物的恢复；和/或无法正常工作，可能会通过心理压力机制对工人的呼吸系统健康造成风险。

客观的

在深水地平线灾难发生后的1-3年内，评估OSRC工人在6种潜在的压力大的溢油经验与肺功能之间的关联，同时控制主要的溢油吸入危害和其他潜在的混杂因素。

方法

在进行OSRC工作并完成高质量肺活量测试的6811名GuLF Study参与者中，有4806名参与者提供了所有暴露和混杂因素的信息。我们进行了完整的案例分析，并使用多次推算来评估较大样本中的风险。从对这些工人的较早研究中发现了潜在的压力工作经验。感兴趣的肺功能参数包括1秒内的呼气量（FEV ₁，mL），强制肺活量（FVC，mL）和比率（FEV ₁ / FVC，％）。

结果

平均而言，分析样本的参与者在泄漏发生后1.7年完成了肺活量测定测试。在具有至少2条可接受的FEV ₁和FVC曲线的工人中，从事涉及油性植物/野生动物或死动物恢复工作的工人的FEV ₁值较低（平均差异：-53 mL，95％CI：-84，-22） ，FVC（平均差异：-45 mL，95％CI：-81，-9）和FEV ₁ / FVC（平均差异：-0.44％，95％CI：-0.80，-0.07）与使用分析的未暴露工人相比多重插补。

结论

在考虑了其他OSRC吸入危害之后，参与处理油性植物/野生动物或死动物恢复的工人的肺功能要比未接触过的工人低。