Exhaled Nitric Oxide Measurement in Workers in a Microwave Popcorn Production Plant

Abstract

Airways obstruction in microwave-popcorn workers has been attributed to inhalation of flavoring agents. Two former workers at a microwave-popcorn plant were found by lung biopsy to have bronchiolitis obliterans. The study's aim was to determine whether exhaled nitric oxide (FE_NO) levels were associated with exposure levels, respiratory symptoms, or airways obstruction. A questionnaire, spirometry, and FE_NO measurements were completed by 135 workers. The FE_NO levels of workers with high flavoring exposures (n = 107) were compared with those of workers with low exposures (n = 28) and healthy external con troIs (n = 31). FE_NO levels were significantly lower in the high-exposure group (p < 0.05). There is no indication that FE_NO is useful as a marker of lung injury in a flavoring-exposed worker population with a substantial lung disease burden, but the finding of low FE_NO in the high-exposure group should not be dismissed.