Diseases Registered Among Integrated Textile Factory Workers in Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Background: Textile and garment factories are growing in low and middle-income countries; integrated textile and garment production factories are developing, where workers are exposed to dust and dangerous, noisy machines in the work environment. Hence, workers' health might be affected negatively due to exposure to different occupational hazards. However, the health condition of workers in this sector is not adequately investigated. The aim of this study is to describe the registered diagnoses of health problems and their association to work-related and personal factors among workers in integrated textile factories in Ethiopia. Methods: A one year recording of worker’s clinical diagnoses (between March 2016 and February 2017) was gathered from the respective factory clinics in three integrated textile factories. Sociodemographic characteristics and work-related information is obtained from the factory’s human resource departments. The association between the registered diagnoses and work-related factors (work in textile production, garment production and support department) and personal factors (age, gender and educational status) were studied using logistic regression analyses.Results: The socio-demographic and clinical diagnosis statuses of 7992 workers are analyzed. The average of workers' age and years of service is 40 years and 11 years, respectively. Majority 4778(60%) of workers are females; a total of 5276 (66%) of workers had 27320 clinical diagnoses; in total this causes 16993 working days lost due to sick leave. Respiratory diseases (34%) and musculoskeletal disorders (29%) were the most prevalent diagnoses, while injuries cause most of the days of work absence. Work department, gender and educational status are the variables that are significantly associated with several disease groups.Conclusions: About two-thirds of the integrated textile factory workers were diagnosed with different types of diseases. The textile and garment production department workers were more affected than the support department workers, indicating that some of the diseases are related to work in these departments. Further study should investigate the occurrence of rare chronic diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, renal diseases and diabetics in relation with workers exposure profile.