Background: Pulmonary function tests may reveal obstructive lung disease with altered forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) in cotton textile workers. Since 1930, many cohort studies have been performed to assess the disease mortality rate in cotton textile workers.
Materials and methods: The authors performed a meta-analysis of the SMR results of these studies.
Results: From the meta-analysis, the SMRs were as follows: for all deaths, 0.792 in males and 0.873 in females; for cancers, 0.705 in males and 0.829 in females.
Discussion: The male cotton textile workers were healthier than the general population. The healthy-worker effect may be one of the causes, in general workers in industry have a better mortality patterns than those not working.