EFFECT OF RESPIRATORY FUNCTIONS ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN PESTICIDE WORKERS

Objective: in this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of respiratory functions on quality of life in pesticide workers.materials and methods: we performed physical examinations and respiratory function tests in all of the workers. we also applied niosh asthma questionnaire and assessed quality of life with short form-12.results: we enrolled 298 male pesticide workers. we detected findings of bronchial obstruction in 10 (3.35%) of the participants. we found findings of bronchial obstruction on respiratory function tests in 13.75% of the participants (n=41) (95% ci: 0.10 -0.17). average of physical and mental component scores of short form-12 were 48.18 ± 3.96 and 45.92 ± 6.45, respectively. the intensity and duration of exposure had no significant association with the quality of life or obstruction. physical component scores in non-obstructed workers were significantly higher than obstructed workers (t=2.54, p=0.01).conclusion: we could not detect an association between pesticide exposure and bronchial obstruction or quality of life in this study. studies investigating the effect of occupational exposure on quality of life are scarce and new studies are needed in this field. factors that reduce the quality of life in terms of employee health should be identified and methods to minimize these factors should be applied