Long-term exposure to chemicals found in operating theaters would increase the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Nurses who have worked in the operating room for 15 years or more are 69% more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Below 15 years of experience, this figure drops to 22%.
- Although the study data reflects working conditions in the operating room during the 1980s, the findings are still applicable to today’s operating room environment.
In operating rooms, each utensil must be sterilized so as not to infect the patient. These disinfectants and other gaseous products used are not safe for doctors, nurses and other hospital staff who spend a lot of time in operating rooms. This is revealed by a study published on September 20 in the journal JAMA Network Openadding that this exposure increases the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
A significantly higher risk of COPD by frequenting operating theaters
The study suggests that nurses who have worked in the operating room for 15 years or more are 69% more likely to develop COPD than those who do not enter operating rooms. Below 15 years of experience, this figure drops to 22%. To arrive at this result, the researchers analyzed data on operating room employment history and COPD incidence among a cohort of 75,011 nurses working in US hospitals in 1984.
“One of the challenges inherent in assessing the health risks of disinfectants and surgical smoke is that it is difficult to measure exposure accurately over a long period of time and among a large population.says Wubin Xie, lead author of the study. Our results, based on data from a large cohort of nurses, show that long-term occupational exposure to these agents in operating rooms leads to a significantly higher risk of developing COPD..”
Results always up to date
Although the study data reflects working conditions in the operating room during the 1980s, the findings are still applicable to today’s operating room environment, according to the researchers. “The use of disinfectants has actually increased in recent decades, and there is little evidence that the risk of surgical smoke has decreased.”, they add.
Measures aimed at preventing these gases from producing their toxic effects in operating rooms are insufficient. “Protective surgical masks, such as the N95 mask, cannot block small particles in surgical smokesays Wubin Xie. Smoke evacuation systems, which capture aerosols and smoke gases emitted during procedures, have also not been implemented in many operating rooms..”
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