Associations between the degree of exposure to clean-up work and persistent respiratory symptoms and medication usage
| Moderately exposed (n=250) | Highly exposed (n=216) | p For linear trend | |
| Lower respiratory tract symptoms | 1.7 (0.9 to 3.1) | 3.3 (1.8 to 6.2) | <0.001 |
| Nasal symptoms | 2.2 (1.2 to 4.3) | 2.7 (1.4 to 5.3) | 0.004 |
| Inhaled medication | 2.1 (0.7 to 6.1) | 3.8 (1.4 to 11) | 0.006 |
| Oral medication | 2.4 (0.8 to 6.8) | 3.7 (1.3 to 11) | 0.013 |
RR ratios and 95% CIs for the presence of the respective outcome both at baseline and at follow-up as compared with participants without the outcome at baseline and at follow-up. All models were adjusted for sex, age, smoking status and the time elapsed between baseline and follow-up studies. The reference group consisted of non-exposed participants (n=156). For symptom definitions, see legend of table 2. For characterisation of the degree of exposure, see the online data supplement table 3.