Pulmonary Function Abnormalities in Never Smoking Flight Attendants Exposed to Secondhand Tobacco Smoke in the Aircraft Cabin

Mehrdad Arjomandi, MD 1,3,4, Thaddeus Haight, MA 5, Rita Redberg, MD 1,3, and Warren M Gold, MD 1,2,3
1 UCSF FAMRI Center of Excellence, University of California, San Francisco
2 Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco
3 Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
4 San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of California Berkeley, California
5 School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley, California

Download the publication: Pulmonary Function Abnormalities In Never Smoking Flight Attendants

Objective: To determine whether the flight attendants who were exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS) in the aircraft cabin have abnormal pulmonary function.
Methods: We administered questionnaires and performed pulmonary function testing in 61 neversmoking female flight attendants who worked in active air crews before the smoking ban on commercial aircraft (pre-ban).
Results: While the pre-ban flight attendants had normal FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC ratio, they had significantly decreased flow at mid- and low-lung volumes, curvilinear flow-volume curves, and evidence of air trapping. Furthermore, the flight attendants had significantly decreased diffusing capacity (77.5±11.2 %predicted normal) with 51% having a diffusing capacity below their 95% normal prediction limit.
Conclusions: This cohort of healthy never-smoking flight attendants who were exposed to SHS in the aircraft cabin showed pulmonary function abnormalities suggestive of airway obstruction and impaired diffusion.