Reduced lung function in Ethiopian coffee workers

This is a carefully designed cross-sectional study of symptoms and lung function in Ethiopian coffee workers, showing symptoms and reduced lung function in exposed workers compared with controls from a bottling plant. It is good to see studies in primary producers, exposure levels were high but we are not told anything about what was being inhaled, what type of coffee bean? Were they green or roasted? Previous studies have mostly shown IgE reactions to green coffee beans, rather than problems from roasted coffee.

References

	Abaya SW, Bråtveit M, Deressa W, Kumie A, Moen BE, Reduced Lung Function among Workers in Primary Coffee Processing Factories in Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study., Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2018;15:2415,10.3390/ijerph15112415

	Lemiere C, Malo JL, McCants M, Lehrer S, Occupational asthma caused by roasted coffee: immunologic evidence that roasted coffee contains the same antigens as green coffee, but at a lower concentration, J Allergy Clin Immunol, 1996;98:464-466,

	Lehrer SB, Karr RM, Salvaggio JE, Analysis of green coffee bean and castor bean allergens using RAST inhibition, Clin Allergy, 1981;11:357-366,

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