Prevalence of occupational respiratory disease and its determinants among workers in major industrial sectors in Malaysia in 2023

In Malaysia, rapid industrial growth has increased workers' exposure to occupational respiratory hazards which consequently leads to an increase in the prevalence of occupational respiratory disease (ORD) among workers. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap by investigating the prevalence of ORD and its determinants among workers. This is a cross-sectional study utilizing secondary data from the National Occupational Disease and Prevention 2023 (NODIP) database involving a total of 111,028 participants. Suspected ORD was defined by the British Medical Research Council (BMRC) questionnaire criteria. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized in this study. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to find the determinants of ORD. The overall prevalence of ORD was found to be 8.7%. Most of studied factors were significant determinants of ORD. However, the factors of highest odds ratio (OR) were working in the mining and quarrying (AOR: 14.81; 95% CI: 11.74-18.68; p < 0.001), being of Malaysian nationality (AOR: 4.48; 95% CI: 3.78-5.32; p < 0.001) and working more than 12 hours per day (AOR: 2.18; 95% CI: 1.94-2.45, p < 0.001). The findings of this study highlight the importance of regular assessment of the risk of exposure to noxious agents in the workplace and to develop measures for preventing potential adverse effects.