Workplace Exacerbation of Asthma Symptoms: Findings from a Population-Based Study in Maine

Details

• Personal Author:
  Asdigian N ; Deprez RD ; Derk S ; Goe SK ; Henneberger, Paul K. ; Oliver LC
• Description:
  In this population-based study of asthma in the State of Maine, the authors investigated how often asthma symptoms were exacerbated in the workplace. Participants from 5 hospital service areas in Maine completed a telephone questionnaire. Of 474 adult participants (18-65 yr of age) employed during the preceding year and for whom information on occupation and industry was available, 64 (13.5%) were identified with current asthma, including 28 (5.9%) with current physician-diagnosed asthma and 36 (7.6%) who met criteria for symptoms consistent with asthma. Jobs were identified a priori as "high-risk" or "low-risk" for asthma. Of the 64 asthma cases, 16 (25%) reported that their coughing or wheezing worsened at work. Among the symptom-based cases, the percentage with workplace exacerbation of asthma was elevated for high-risk jobs (7/14 = 50%) vs. low-risk jobs (3/22 = 13.6%) (p = 0.03). No similar elevation was observed for individuals with current physician-diagnosed asthma, which might have resulted, in part, from a healthy worker effect. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Asthma Asthma, Occupational Demography Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Age-factors Author Keywords: Asthma Bronchial-asthma Demographic-characteristics Exacerbation Occupational-exposure Occupational-health Population-based Studies Questionnaires Risk-analysis Risk-factors Work-environment Work-related Asthma Worker-health Workers

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• ISSN:
  0003-9896
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  58
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026619
• Citation:
  Arch Environ Health 2003 Dec; 58(12):781-788
• Contact Point Address:
  Dr. Paul K. Henneberger, NIOSH, M/S H-2800, 1095 Willowdale Road, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  pkh0@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Archives of Environmental Health
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0bd6060192d65c8f8aa5ff866e24a173971b80618e22023b2bb613f837fa846a4b8f39e7530a185cd7aa8fc9863d364a5419b8ff958454803c36b68560bd73e8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/197342/cdc_197342_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1017.72 KB ]