Assessment of lung health in rubber factory personnel in Santo Domingo
Keywords:
Occupational health, pulmonary function, respiratory risk, industrial contaminantsAbstract
Occupational health has been a fundamental aspect of worker well-being, especially in work environments involving exposure to harmful agents. Therefore, this study compared lung function among administrative and operational staff at a rubber factory to identify significant differences and propose improvements in working conditions. To this end, a cross-sectional study was conducted in which FEV1 and FVC values were measured in both groups of workers. The data obtained were statistically analyzed to compare lung function results between the administrative and operational groups. The results showed that operational workers had significantly lower FEV1 and FVC values compared to administrative workers, indicating reduced lung function in operational workers. In conclusion, the observed differences in lung function have led to the implementation of preventive measures in the work environment of operational workers. Improving working conditions has been recommended, including increased respiratory protection and continuous monitoring to prevent potential respiratory conditions.
Downloads
References
Bragato, C., Mostoni, S., D’Abramo, C., Gualtieri, M., Pomilla, F. R., Scotti, R., & Mantecca, P. (2022). On the In Vitro and In Vivo Hazard Assessment of a Novel Nanomaterial to Reduce the Use of Zinc Oxide in the Rubber Vulcanization Process. Toxics, 10(12), 781. https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/12/781
Castañeta, G., Gutiérrez, A. F., Nacaratte, F., & Manzano, C. A. (2020). Microplásticos: un contaminante que crece en todas las esferas ambientales, sus características y posibles riesgos para la salud pública por exposición. Revista boliviana de química, 37(3), 160-175. https://www.redalyc.org/journal/4263/426365043004/426365043004.pdf
Cheng, Y., Wei, Y., Wu, H., Zhang, T., Li, S., Zhu, N., Zhang, Q., & Li, W. (2024). Biodegradation of vulcanized natural rubber by enriched bacterial consortia. Chemical Engineering Journal, 481, 1-4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894724001700
Garabiza, B., Prudente, E., & Quinde, K. (2021). La aplicación del modelo de economía circular en Ecuador: Estudio de caso. Revista Espacios, 42(02), 222-237. https://www.revistaespacios.com/a21v42n02/a21v42n02p17.pdf
Guamán-Pozo, J., & Peralta-Beltrán, Á. (2024). Impacto de los contaminantes atmosféricos en la salud ocupacional de los agricultores. Revista Interdisciplinaria de Humanidades, Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología, 10(1), 589-607. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/9502312.pdf
Guseva Canu, I., Wild, P., Charreau, T., Freund, R., Toto, A., Pralong, J., Sakthithasan, K., Jouannique, V., Debatisse, A., & Suarez, G. (2024). Long-term exposure to PM10 and respiratory health among Parisian subway workers. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 256, 1-5. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1438463923002079
Herrera-Quintana, J. A., & Caiza-Lema, J. (2025). Variación de la función pulmonar en residentes altoandinos. MQRInvestigar, 9(1), e8. https://www.investigarmqr.com/2025/index.php/mqr/article/view/8
Huang, S., Zhang, J., Kong, L., Li, W., Xie, Z.-T., & Wu, J. (2024). Fully Biosourced, Vulcanization-Free, and Thermal-Responsive Natural Rubber Material. Macromolecules, 57(4), 1642-1652. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.macromol.3c02221
Khoshakhlagh, A. H., Gruszecka-Kosowska, A., Adeniji, A. O., & Tran, L. (2022). Probabilistic human health risk assessment of 1, 3-butadiene and styrene exposure using Monte Carlo simulation technique in the carpet production industry. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 22103. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-26537-9
Koivisto, A. J., Jayjock, M., Hussein, T., Bengalli, R. D., & Nicosia, A. (2025). Particle Emissions by Mechanical Treatment of Nanocomposites: Emission Library and Applications in Exposure and Risk Assessment. Open Research Europe, 5. https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/articles/5-63
Li, Z., Wang, Y., Wu, W., Zhao, Y., Wang, S., Wang, P., Lin, X., Gong, Y., Wu, Z., Li, X., Sun, J., Zhao, N., Huang, Y., Hu, S., & Zhang, W. (2024). The relative contribution of PM2.5 components to the obstructive ventilatory dysfunction—insights from a large ventilatory function examination of 305,022 workers in southern China. Environment International, 187, 1-6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024003076
Mejía Argüello, J. E., & González Ángel, L. A. (2023). El trabajo como un factor de riesgo en la Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica (EPOC) y otras patologías respiratorias. Revisión narrativa de literatura. Revista Colombiana de Salud Ocupacional, 13(1). https://revistas.unilibre.edu.co/index.php/rc_salud_ocupa/article/view/8773
Muñoz Pérez, S. P., Bobadilla Peña, J. R., Tesen Muñoz, F. L., & Tigre Acosta, J. J. (2022). Uso de polímeros en asfalto: una revisión. Gaceta técnica, 23(1), 94-109. https://ve.scielo.org/scielo.php?pid=S1856-95602022000100094&script=sci_arttext
Nazhira, F., Putri, F., Fauziah, E., Afriani, D., Zahra, S. H. K., & Lazuardi, G. T. (2025). Correlation Analysis Between Cardiovascular Load and Lung Function Disorders Based On FVC Values In Construction Workers. FISIO MU: Physiotherapy Evidences, 6(1), 68-73. https://journals2.ums.ac.id/fisiomu/article/view/7390
Rey, D. R. (2022). Enfermedades del intersticio pulmonar de causa laboral.(Parte I). Revista americana de medicina respiratoria, 22(4), 321-332. https://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?pid=S1852-236X2022000400321&script=sci_arttext
Sohrabi, Y., Sabet, S., Yousefinejad, S., Rahimian, F., Aryaie, M., Soleimani, E., & Jafari, S. (2022). Pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms in workers exposed to respirable silica dust: A historical cohort study. Heliyon, 8(11). https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(22)02930-9?uuid=uuid%3Ab7b97905-d2ed-46a4-a43c-6dbb94401f3f
Tejani, J., Ghanshyambhai. (2024). Robotics and Automation in Rubber Vulcanization Processes. Robotics Xplore: USA Tech Digest, 1(1), 44-60. https://hal.science/hal-04787284
Wang, Y., Wang, D., Hao, H., Cui, J., Huang, L., & Liang, Q. (2024). The association between cadmium exposure and the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 469(May ), 1-4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389424004072
Xinliang, Z., Achkasov, E. E., Gavrikov, L. K., Yuchen, L., Zhang, C., Dudnik, E. N., Rumyantseva, O., Beeraka, N. M., & Glazachev, O. S. (2024). Assessing the importance and safety of hypoxia conditioning for patients with occupational pulmonary diseases: A recent clinical perspective. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 178, 1-14. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0753332224011594
Zhang, F., Wang, M., Wang, M., Fan, C., Tao, L., Ma, W., Sui, S., Liu, T., Jia, L., & Guo, X. (2024). Revealing the dual impact of VOCs on recycled rubber workers: Health risk and odor perception. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116824
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Carlos Alberto Valverde-González, Lexter Ivan Mihalache-Bernal, Vanessa Del Cisne Pinza-Vera

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in Revista UGC agree to the following terms:
1. Copyright
Authors retain unrestricted copyright to their work. Authors grant the journal the right of first publication. To this end, they assign the journal non-exclusive exploitation rights (reproduction, distribution, public communication, and transformation). Authors may enter into additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal, provided that acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal is given.
© The authors.
2. License
The articles are published in the journal under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). The terms can be found at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en
This license allows:
- Sharing: Copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format.
- Adapting: Remixing, transforming, and building upon the material.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if any changes were made. You may do this in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses or sponsors your use.
- NonCommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
- ShareAlike: If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your creation under the same license as the original work.
There are no additional restrictions. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.





