Association between Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and cleanup work experiences and lung function

Introduction: Oil spill response and cleanup (OSRC) workers had potentially stressful experiences during mitigation efforts following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Smelling chemicals; skin or clothing contact with oil; heat stress; handling oily plants/wildlife or dead animal recovery; and/or being out of regular work may have posed a risk to worker respiratory health through psychological stress mechanisms.

Objective: To evaluate the association between six potentially stressful oil spill experiences and lung function among OSRC workers 1-3 years following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, while controlling for primary oil spill inhalation hazards and other potential confounders.

Methods: Of 6811 GuLF STUDY participants who performed OSRC work and completed a quality spirometry test, 4806 provided information on all exposures and confounders. We carried out complete case analysis and used multiple imputation to assess risk among the larger sample. Potentially stressful work experiences were identified from an earlier study of these workers. The lung function parameters of interest include the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁, mL), the forced vital capacity (FVC, mL) and the ratio (FEV₁/FVC, %).

Results: On average, participants in the analytic sample completed spirometry tests 1.7 years after the spill. Among workers with at least 2 acceptable FEV₁ and FVC curves, workers with jobs that involved oily plants/wildlife or dead animal recovery had lower values for FEV₁ (Mean difference: -53 mL, 95% CI: -84, -22), FVC (Mean difference: -45 mL, 95% CI: -81, -9) and FEV₁/FVC (Mean difference: -0.44%, 95% CI: -0.80, -0.07) compared to unexposed workers in analyses using multiple imputation.

Conclusions: Workers involved in handling oily plants/wildlife or dead animal recovery had lower lung function than unexposed workers after accounting for other OSRC inhalation hazards.