Prevalence of occupational respiratory symptoms and associated factors among industry workers in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Occupational respiratory diseases are major global public health problems, particularly for industry workers. Several studies have investigated occupational respiratory symptoms in various parts of Ethiopia. The findings have been inconsistent and inconclusive, and there is no nationally representative data on the subject. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence and factors associated with occupational respiratory symptoms among industry workers in Ethiopia (2010–2022). METHODS: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis framework Guidelines, search was conducted on several international databases including PubMed, CINAHL, African Journals Online, Hinari, Global Health, and Google scholar. The extracted data was analyzed using STATA 14. Random effect model was used to estimate the effect size. Egger regression test and I(2) statistics were used to determine potential publication bias and heterogeneity, respectively among the reviewed articles. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included a total of 15 studies with 5,135 participants, revealing a pooled prevalence of 51.6% (95% CI: 43.6–59.6) for occupational respiratory symptoms among industry workers in Ethiopia. The absence of personal protective equipment (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: [1.17–3.32]), lack of occupational health and safety training (OR = 3.04, 95% CI: [2.36–3.93]), previous dust exposure (OR = 3.17, 95% CI: [2.3–4.37]), poor working environment (OR = 2.4, 95% CI: [1.7–3.2]), work experience greater than five years (OR = 4.04, 95% CI: [1.61–10.16]), smoking (OR = 6.91, 95% CI: [2.94–16.2]), and previous respiratory illness (OR = 4.25, 95% CI: [2.44–7.42]) were found to associate with the symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of occupational respiratory symptoms among industry workers in Ethiopia underscores the urgent need for effective interventions. The provision of personal protective equipment and improvement of working environments by the government, industry owners, and other stakeholders are crucial in reducing occupational respiratory symptoms. Additionally, prioritizing occupational health and safety training for industry workers can help prevent and mitigate the impact of occupational respiratory diseases. REGISTRATION: This systematic review has been registered in the International Prospective Registry of Systematic Review (PROSPERO) with a specific registration number CRD42022383745.