[Pulmonary function in persons endangered by long-term exposure to dust].

Lung function measurements in 472 dust-exposed workers have shown, that bronchial obstructions prevail, irrespective of the occurrence and severity of silicosis. Severe obstructions were growing more frequent with increasing duration of exposure. The incidence rate of arterial hypoxia at rest also increased with increasing duration of exposure. Regardless of the duration of exposure to dust there was pulmonary hypertension at rest in about 15 per cent of the patients examined. It is not unlikely that a correlation exists between the duration of exposure and the incidence rate of exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension (in about 40 per cent), in which arterial hypoxia concerning the functional aspect of increasing precapillary resistance (Euler-Liljestrand mechanism) seems to be of paramount significance.