Respiratory symptoms in Ecuadorian workers associated with informal labor and cantonal satellite pollution metrics.

Direct workplace chemical inhalation, compounded by a complete lack of risk awareness, was associated with significantly higher odds for asthma, wheezing, and chronic cough.

Geospatially, after controlling for canton-level altitude-which acted as an independent protective factor against asthma (aOR 0.78; 95% CI: 0.66-0.93)-nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emerged as the primary independent environmental predictors for chronic phlegm and cough, while ozone lost statistical significance.