International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | December 2018 | Vol 5 | Issue 12 Page 1 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Saji KG et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2018 Dec;5(12):xxx-xxx http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article An epidemiological study on effect of occupational exposure of cement Saji K. G. 1 , Zubair M. 2 , Sreelatha B. Nair 3 , Varghese P. R. 4 * INTRODUCTION Cement is an inevitable constituent of construction industry and a key to economic growth. High remuneration and uninterrupted working days attract more skilled and unskilled labourers to this sector. Cement is alkaline in reaction, odourless substance and considered as dust to pose a high risk of respiratory tract damage than any other poorly soluble dusts. Exposure to cement by skin, eye or inhalation results in various health effects. 1-3 Cement dust are respirable in size due to its micro diameter (0.05-5 μm). The major passage for cement dust is found to be respiratory as well as gastrointestinal tract. 4 Hence, exposure to the cement is considered as a major cause for occupational lung disease. Risk of injury depends on duration and level of exposure and individual sensitivity. Cement mill workers are the high risk exposed group to cement. 5,6 Construction labourers and cement transport- ing workers are also exposed to cement during their work. These groups are also exposed to cement for ABSTRACT Background: Construction industry chiefly depends on the cement. The constituents in the cement have various health effects in the exposed group. The present study focused to realize the health effects of cement exposure and duration of exposure. Methods: The sample size was 831 male workers. The labourers included were construction workers (masons, helpers and concrete mixers) and cement loading and unloading workers. They were categorized in to five groups which were 5-9, 10-14, 15-19, 20-24 and 25+ years based on the duration of exposure to cement. Health hazards among these labourers were categorized in to lung function impairment symptoms, cutaneous symptoms and other symptoms. Results: High frequency of respiratory tract ailments (persistent cough 54%, breathlessness 47%) was observed among loading workers as they were handling cement dust. Burning was the most observed one in concrete mixer (70%), hair loss and change in hair colour was observed in 60% of all categories of workers. Skin related ailments were more prevalent among masons, helpers and concrete mixers. Conclusions: The frequency symptoms had correlation with their nature of work in the construction industry. Prolonged exposure to hazardous substances will decline the efficiency of labourers by malfunctioning their physiological functions. Proper awareness about the hazardous substances and well taken precautions among these labours can enhance their efficacy and wellbeing. Keywords: Cement exposure, Wet cement, Dry cement, Masons, Loading workers, Health hazards Department of Zoology, 1 St.Aloysius College, Elthuruth, 2 University of Calicut, 673635, Kerala, India 3 Department of Genetics, Lifeline Super Specialty Hospital, Adoor, Kerala, India 4 Jubilee Centre for Medical Research, JMMC & RI, Thrissur, Kerala, India Received: 28 October 2018 Revised: 14 November 2018 Accepted: 15 November 2018 *Correspondence: Dr. Varghese P. R., E-mail: drprvarghese@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20184734