Introduction: The nature of some jobs and the related exposures predispose certain groups of workers to considerably larger risk of developing occupational lung diseases. Occupational lung disorders studies in India have mostly been among industrial workers exposed to occupational hazards. Traffic police, who are continuously exposed to high levels of ambient air pollution, however has attracted less attention. This study was done in this context, among 40 traffic policemen to assess effect of exposure to traffic pollution on pulmonary function. Aims and Objectives: To study the pulmonary functions in traffic policemen and to compare the same with matched control group. Materials and Methods: In this study pulmonary functions such as FVC, FEV1, FEV1 /FVC, MVV, PEFR parameters were studied in 40 traffic policemen in the age group of 30-45 years. These parameters were compared with matched apparently normal healthy control group selected from general population using unpaired ‘t’ test. Results: The present study shows that among traffic policemen and controls, traffic policemen have statistically significant low values of forced vital capacity (FVC) (P=0.0015), Forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1 ) (P=0.0012), FEV1 /FVC (P=0.0001), Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV) (P=0.0153) and Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR) (P=0.0016). Conclusion: There is significant decrement in pulmonary function parameters in the traffic policemen exposed to vehicle exhaust as compared to control group. This reduction in pulmonary function can be detected with spirometry before pulmonary functions are grossly impaired.

Keywords: Traffic Policemen; FEV1; FVC; PEFR; Pulmonary Function.