The impact of respirable dust exposure on lung function parameters of motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok and adjacent provinces, Thailand

Abstract

The motorcycle taxi drivers of Bangkok and adjacent provinces in Thailand may have been heavily exposed to ambient air pollution and the impact of this on their lungs has been neither documented nor studied. In this study, we recruited a total of 343 motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok and adjacent provinces in Thailand and their lung function parameters were analyzed using spirometry in May and June 2022. Of these, 153 participants were selected and their exposure to respirable dust during working was measured by personal air sampling. Respirable dust concentrations collected with personal air sampling suggested that motorcycle taxi drivers working at workstations where they were exposed to respirable dust at high concentrations tended to have a low percent predicted FEV1. Twelve% and 7.3% of motorcycle taxi drivers recruited in this study had the symptoms of chronic bronchitis and acute bronchitis, respectively. These results suggested that some motorcycle taxi drivers around Bangkok and adjacent provinces had a high risk of occupational exposure to ambient air pollution. The government needs to establish a medical check-up system for motorcycle taxi drivers to monitor their health status.