Prevalence of welding related respiratory and systemic symptoms (n=351)
| n | % | 95% CI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Presence of at least two of the following welding related symptoms: cough, wheezing, and chest tightness. | |||
| †Presence of welding related asthma symptoms, excluding subjects with non-welding related asthma symptoms. | |||
| ‡Having at least two of symptoms displayed in table 3. | |||
| §Having fever and at least two of: feelings of flu, general malaise, chills, metallic taste, shortness of breath, and dry cough. | |||
| Welding related respiratory symptom indices | |||
| Respiratory symptoms suggestive of asthma* | 50 | 14.6 | 12.9 to 19.5 |
| Respiratory symptoms suggestive of asthma only at work† | 18 | 5.2 | 3.4 to 7.5 |
| Welding related systemic symptom indices | |||
| Possible MFF‡ | 69 | 19.7 | 16.6 to 23.8 |
| Probable MFF§ | 42 | 12.0 | 9.3 to 15.2 |
| Co-occurrence of MFF and respiratory symptoms | |||
| Possible MFF and respiratory symptoms suggestive of asthma | 20 | 5.8 | 3.9 to 8.2 |
| Probable MFF and respiratory symptoms suggestive of asthma | 14 | 4.0 | 2.5 to 6.1 |