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 IIIp value
Working women (C) (n = 2786)*FA v TFA v CT v C
SE, standard error.
GM (GSE), geometric mean (geometric standard error).
Wheezing/whistling in the chest (%)
All22.828.416.4 (SE 0.9)0.03<0.005<0.005
Never smoker20.624.910.6 (SE 0.9)0.15<0.005<0.005
Ex-smoker26.429.514.3 (SE 2.7)0.58<0.0050.01
Smoker31.950.029.6 (SE 2.2)0.050.580.02
Number of episodes of wheezing/whistling in the chest (GM (GSE))
All2.7 (1.1)4.0 (1.1)3.3 (1.1)<0.0050.120.28
Never smoker2.7 (1.1)4.0 (1.2)2.3 (1.2)<0.0050.640.01
Ex-smoker2.8 (1.1)3.7 (1.3)3.7 (1.3)0.360.440.99
Current smoker2.8 (1.1)3.9 (1.4)4.0 (1.2)0.150.100.82