Abstract
Background: In India, around 20 million workers are involved in textile industry. With rapid industrialization of the developing world, cotton dust induced lung diseases are poised to become a global health problem.

Aims & Objective: To evaluate and compare the lung functions in subjects exposed to cotton dust with unexposed once (control groups) and to find out the correlation between duration of exposure with observed respiratory parameters.

Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the department of physiology at LLRM Medical College, Meerut with the help of SPIROLAB II (MIR) over a period of twelve months. A total of 100 individuals, 50 power loom workers and 50 controls were included in this study.

Results: The average FEV1/FVC ratio in loom workers was 79.63 ± 11.37, which was significantly lower (p<.0001) as compared to unexposed subjects 83.30 ± 6.50. When the FEV1/FVC ratio was studied in correlation with duration of exposure, it was observed that the reduction in FEV1/FVC ratio showed a significant (p<0.01) positive correlation with exposure time.

Conclusion: In our study an attempt was made to compare pulmonary function between unexposed controls and exposed power loom weavers. We must focus on health conditions of the human involving in the manufacturing process and environmental conditions.

Key words: Byssinosis; Spirometer; FEV1/FVC Ratio; Loom Workers