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Background: Welding fumes are known to cause respiratory health problems.

Aims and Objectives: We evaluated the long-term respiratory effects of exposure to welding fumes.

Methods: Inception cohorts of welding, plumbing and heating apprentices were prospectively contacted 7-17 years post-apprenticeship. Questionnaires, spirometry and non-specific bronchial hyper-responsiveness (NSBHR) test were repeatedly administered. Long-term evaluation was done in 90 of 330 former apprentices at the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal between 2013 and 2017. Characteristics at the end of apprenticeship were comparable between subjects who participated and who did not. The risk of work-related lower respiratory symptoms suggestive of occupational asthma (OA) and excessive lung function decline given continued post-apprenticeship exposure to welding fumes was estimated with Cox regression.

Results …