Table 4
Prevalence of wheezing or whistling in the chest in the past 12 months and number of episodes among flight attendants, teachers, and working women (aged 24–49) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III
| Flight attendants (FA) (n = 1824) | Teachers (T) (n = 331) | NHANES III | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working women (C) (n = 2786)* | FA v T | FA v C | T v C | |||
| SE, standard error. | ||||||
| GM (GSE), geometric mean (geometric standard error). | ||||||
| Wheezing/whistling in the chest (%) | ||||||
| All | 22.8 | 28.4 | 16.4 (SE 0.9) | 0.03 | <0.005 | <0.005 |
| Never smoker | 20.6 | 24.9 | 10.6 (SE 0.9) | 0.15 | <0.005 | <0.005 |
| Ex-smoker | 26.4 | 29.5 | 14.3 (SE 2.7) | 0.58 | <0.005 | 0.01 |
| Smoker | 31.9 | 50.0 | 29.6 (SE 2.2) | 0.05 | 0.58 | 0.02 |
| Number of episodes of wheezing/whistling in the chest (GM (GSE)) | ||||||
| All | 2.7 (1.1) | 4.0 (1.1) | 3.3 (1.1) | <0.005 | 0.12 | 0.28 |
| Never smoker | 2.7 (1.1) | 4.0 (1.2) | 2.3 (1.2) | <0.005 | 0.64 | 0.01 |
| Ex-smoker | 2.8 (1.1) | 3.7 (1.3) | 3.7 (1.3) | 0.36 | 0.44 | 0.99 |
| Current smoker | 2.8 (1.1) | 3.9 (1.4) | 4.0 (1.2) | 0.15 | 0.10 | 0.82 |
