Is There an Association between the Type of Activities and Respiratory Disorders among e-Waste Workers? Case of Two Major Cities in West Africa

Background: Several studies have demonstrated that e-waste workers had a risk to develop the respiratory disorders but this was not specifically differentiated according to the type of the e-waste activities. The main aim of this study was to evaluate if the risk to develop respiratory disorders was different according to the type of activities carried out by the e-waste workers. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Abidjan and Cotonou, two big cities in West Africa. The participants were randomly selected based on the list of e-waste workers provided by the census of different sites of e-waste. The spirometry was performed on all the study participants to assess whether they had respiratory disorders. A regression logistic model was performed to estimate the risk of developing respiratory disorders according to the type of activities carried out by the e-waste workers. Results: In total 308 e-waste workers including 149 at Abidjan and 159 at Cotonou were interviewed. Participants of this study ranged in age from 14 years to 69 years and the mean age was 33.71 ± 10.96. The main activities carried out by the study participants were respectively repairing (44.8%), buying or selling (40.3%), dismantling (31.8%). The prevalence of respiratory disorders was 20.1%. The multivariate analysis had not found a significant association between the type of activities and the presence of respiratory disorders. Conclusion: The effect of exposure to e-waste on respiratory health of workers was not different according to the type of activities. So, any policy that aims to reduce the risk of exposure on respiratory health must take into account all the e-waste workers regardless of the type of activities they perform in this sector.