Nasal symptoms of cane cutters exposed to sugarcane burning

Background: Exposure to high concentrations of pollutants produced by burning sugarcane straw added to the effects of intense physical exertion performed by rural workers demand increase of the ventilatory work, which can cause respiratory diseases. Aim: To evaluate nasal symptoms of individuals exposed to sugarcane burning. Methods: 41 sugarcane cutters, male, were evaluated for the presence and/or absence, as well as the intensity of nasal symptoms such as: itching, coryza, sneezing and nasal congestion. With the presence of symptom each individual assigned a score from 1 to 10 according to intensity. The evaluations were performed in three periods: pre-harvest - 4 months of no exposure to sugarcane burning; at the beginning of the harvest - after 3 months of exposure sugarcane burning; and at the end of the harvest - after 7 months of exposure sugarcane burning. We also collected levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) throughout the study. Results: Individuals presented mean of 41±11 years old and BMI 25±4 Kg/m 2 . There was a positive correlation between coryza and PM 2.5 at the beginning of the harvest (r= 0.32; p=0.039). In relation to the frequency, all symptoms increased at the beginning of the harvest, except the nasal itching symptom. However only the increase of 30% in the aspect sneezing was significant (p=0.012) compared to the pre-harvest. In addition, there was an increase in the intensity of sneezing symptoms (p=0.010), nasal congestion (p=0.035) and coryza (p=0.041) at the beginning of the harvest compared to the pre-harvest period. Conclusion: We demonstrated that sugarcane cutters exposed to pollutants by burning sugarcane can aggravate both the frequency and the intensity of some nasal symptoms.