| Summary: | Background: Chlorine is a chemical substance used broadly in
industry, mostly by paper and textile industries. Chlorine is
also an irritative substance to mucous layer, especially to
the respiratory tract. While hypertension worsens the effect
of this irritant. Hypertension is known to affect the
peripheral blood vessels, causing peripheral neuropathy. These
two conditions can alter the function of olfactory organ.
Objectives: to understand the effect of high blood pressure
and chlorine exposure to the olfactory dysfunction event in
textile workers.
Method: This is a cross-sectional study, using chi-square test
as the analytic test. Subject collection was done through the
anamnesis, anterior and posterior rhinoscopy. Eighty textile
workers in �X� textile industry who have already fulfilled the
inclusion and exclusion criterias, their olfaction were
checked using the odor stick test.
Result: In the exposed group, there were 10 people out of 40
(12,5% of the subjects) have olfactory dysfunction. While in
the unexposed group there were 2 people out of 40 (2,5% of the
subjects) haveolfactory dysfunction, with PR=5 and p-value =
0,012. In hypertension group, 6 out of 10 people (7,5% of the
subjects) were found having olfactory dysfunction. While in
non-hypertension group, 6 out of 64 people (7,5% of the
subjects) were found having olfactory dysfunction with PR =
6,97 and p-value = 0,083 (95% CI, PR>5, p-value �0,05).
Conclusion: Chlorine exposure is a risk factor and
significantly affecting the olfactory dysfunction. While
hypertension is not significantly affecting the olfactory
dysfunction.
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