A pilot respiratory health assessment of nail technicians: Symptoms, lung function, and airway inflammation

• Published in: American journal of industrial medicine 2009-11, Vol.52 (11), p.868-875
• Main Authors: Reutman, Susan R., Rohs, Amy M., Clark, John C., Johnson, Belinda C., Sammons, Deborah L., Toennis, Christine A., Robertson, Shirley A., MacKenzie, Barbara A., Lockey, James E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; artificial nails; Beauty Culture; Biological and medical sciences; Breath Tests; exhaled nitric oxide; Female; Humans; lung function; Male; Medical sciences; Multivariate Analysis; nail technicians; Nails; Nitric Oxide - analysis; Occupational Health; Pilot Projects; smoking; Spirometry; Tobacco, tobacco smoking; Toxicology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0271-3586; 1097-0274
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.20751

Background Recent surveys suggest nail technicians, particularly artificial nail applicators, have increased respiratory symptoms and asthma risk. Methods We examined lung function (n = 62) and a marker of airway inflammation, i.e., exhaled nitric oxide (ENO) (n = 43), in a subset of nail technician and control participants in a pilot health assessment. Results Bivariate analysis of technicians demonstrated that job latency was inversely correlated with FEV1 percent predicted (FEV1PP) (r = −0.34, P = 0.03) and FVCPP (r = −0.32, P = 0.05). Acrylic gel contact hours were inversely correlated with FEV1PP (r = −0.38, P = 0.02) and FVCPP (r = −0.47, P = 0.003). Current smoking was inversely and significantly (P ≤ 0.05) associated with ENO in bivariate analysis. Log 10 ENO levels were directly correlated with job latency (P = 0.012) and gel nail application (P = 0.026) in multivariable analyses. Conclusions These positive pilot respiratory test results warrant additional future investigation. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:868–875, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.