[Health problems in textile industry in Democratic Republic of Congo]. 2010

J Panda Lukongo Kitronza, and C de Brouwer
Unite de Santé au Travail et Toxicologie du Milieu, Ecole de Santé Publique, ULB. jpandalu@ulb.ac.be

The objective of this work was to highlight the influence of the occupational conditions on the textile sector workers' health in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We conduct an exploratory cross-sectional study of two populations within a plant located at the North of the DRC: workers (N=114) and executive or employees (N=96). Our total sample data (N=210) were collected by a questionnaire focused on the procedures, the exposures and the effects on health. Odds ratio (OR) and confidence interval at 95% were estimated. For each significant diseases symptom, a regression model has been achieved in order to estimate OR adjusted for association of disease symptoms and occupational statute. Workers compared to employees present high frequencies and exposure rates for many diseases symptoms. These OR are respectively for cough (OR = 5.1; IC: 2.93-10.68); respiratory difficulty (OR = 2.9; IC: 1.42-6.42) thoracic pain (OR = 2.6; IC: 1.31-5.24); fever (OR = 2.4; IC: 1.27-4.50); upper limbs pain (OR = 4.8; IC: 2.55-8.80); neck-shoulder pain (OR = 3.8; IC: 2.02-7.31); ocular diseases (OR = 2.2; IC: 1.17-3.89) and cutaneous diseases (OR = 2.5; IC: 1.18-5.46). The OR related to the libido loss is highest (OR = 5.5; IC: 2.84-10.71). In the other hand, the OR of the neuropsychics disorders are lower than 1 in this comparison and are respectively of 0.5 (0.28-0.95) for tiredness; 0.2 (0.08-0.28) for the lack of concentration and 0.07 (0.04-0.18) for the stress. In conclusion, the frequencies and high OR observed attest differences of the health issues between the workers and employees whose causes could be under the live and work conditions. These results should be confronted with those of other studies in health at the work.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D009784 Occupational Diseases Diseases caused by factors involved in one's employment. Diseases, Occupational,Occupational Illnesses,Disease, Occupational,Illnesse, Occupational,Illnesses, Occupational,Occupational Disease,Occupational Illnesse
D003430 Cross-Sectional Studies Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time. Disease Frequency Surveys,Prevalence Studies,Analysis, Cross-Sectional,Cross Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Survey,Surveys, Disease Frequency,Analyses, Cross Sectional,Analyses, Cross-Sectional,Analysis, Cross Sectional,Cross Sectional Analyses,Cross Sectional Studies,Cross Sectional Survey,Cross-Sectional Analyses,Cross-Sectional Analysis,Cross-Sectional Study,Cross-Sectional Surveys,Disease Frequency Survey,Prevalence Study,Studies, Cross-Sectional,Studies, Prevalence,Study, Cross-Sectional,Study, Prevalence,Survey, Cross-Sectional,Survey, Disease Frequency,Surveys, Cross-Sectional
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D013783 Textile Industry The aggregate business enterprise of manufacturing textiles. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Industry, Textile,Industries, Textile,Textile Industries
D015023 Democratic Republic of the Congo A republic in central Africa, east of the REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, south of the CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC and north of ANGOLA and ZAMBIA. The capital is Kinshasa. Belgian Congo,Congo (Kinshasa),Katanga,Zaire

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