Airway symptoms and lung function in the local population after the oil tank explosion in Gulen, Norway

A cross-sectional study included individuals ≥18 years old. Individuals living <6 km (sub-groups <3km and 3–6 km) from the accident site formed the exposed group, individuals living >20 km away formed a control group. A questionnaire and spirometry tests were completed by 223 exposed individuals (response rate men 70%, women 75%) and 179 control individuals (response rate men 51%, women 65%). Regression analyses included adjustment for smoking, occupational exposure, atopy, infection in the preceding month and age. Analyses of symptoms were also adjusted for stress reactions related to the accident.Exposed individuals experienced significantly more blocked nose (odds ratio 1.7 [95% confidence interval 1.0, 2.8]), rhinorrhoea (1.6 [1.1, 3.3]), nose irritation (3.4 [2.0, 5.9]), sore throat (3.1 [1.8, 5.5]), morning cough (3.5 [2.0, 5.5]), daily cough (2.2 [1.4, 3.7]), cough >3 months a year (2.9 [1.5, 5.3]) and cough with phlegm (1.9 [1.2, 3.1]) than control individuals. A significantly increasing trend was found for nose symptoms and cough, depending on the proximity of home address to explosion site (daily cough, 3-6km 1.8 [1.0, 3.1], <3km 3.0 [1.7, 6.4]). Lung function measurements were significantly lower in the exposed group than in the control group, FEV1 adjusted mean difference ？123 mL [95% confidence interval ？232, -14]), FEV1% predicted ？2.5 [？5.5, 0.5], FVC ？173 mL [？ 297, -50], FVC% predicted ？3.1 [？ 5.9, -0.4], and airway obstruction (GOLD II/III).Based on cross sectional analyses, individuals living in an area with air pollution from an oil tank explosion had more airway symptoms and lower lung function than a control group 1？ years after the incident.One morning in May 2007, an oil tank exploded, caught fire and ignited a nearby tank with similar contents. Sooty smoke spread in a north-easterly direction until the fire was extinguished in the afternoon. The oil tanks were located in a one-square-kilometre industrial harbour area by a fiord in Gulen muni