Occurrence and Causes of Occupational Asthma in South Africa: Results from SORDSA’s Occupational Asthma Registry, 1997–1999

Details

• Personal Author:
  Esterhuizen TM ; Hnizdo, Eva ; Rees D
• Description:
  Objective. To present results for the first 3 years of the occupational asthma registry of the Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Diseases in South Africa (SORDSA) programme, ending December 1999. Design. Surveillance was accomplished by collecting voluntary reports of occupational asthma cases from pulmonologists, occupational medicine practitioners and occupational health nurses. Setting. Medical and occupational health referral centres in the nine provinces of South Africa. Subjects. patients diagnosed with new-onset occupational asthma with latency or irritant-induced asthma, reported to SORDSA during 1997 - 1999. Outcome measures. Frequencies of cases, causative agents, industries causing exposure and diagnostic methods. Average annual incidence rates by province and by occupation. Results. During this period 324 cases of occupational asthma were reported. The average annual incidence rate of occupational asthma was estimated in the three best-reporting provinces, namely Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, as 17.5 per million employed people annually. This rate was highest in the Western Cape (25.1 per million). Semi-skilled operators had the highest incidence rate of 68.7 per million annually in the three provinces. Isocyanates and latex were the most common agents. Low molecular weight causative agents predominated (68.8%) over high molecular weight agents. Health care was the most frequently reported workplace for occupational asthma (OA) development. Serial peak flow testing was the method most often used for diagnosis. One-fifth of the cases were still occupationally exposed to the causative agent at time of diagnosis. Conclusion. Despite underreporting, SORDSA's estimate of the occupational asthma incidence rate was similar to that of the UK. SORDSA has also demonstrated that surveillance programmes in a developing country can provide useful information on which to base prevention activities. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Bronchial-asthma Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-system-disorders Surveillance-programs
• ISSN:
  0038-2469
• 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:
  91
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20021721
• Citation:
  S Afr Med J 2001 Jun; 91(6):509-513
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  South African Medical Journal
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ec247e6ab6fbd8f94dc132256e4faee3c50791627df45426d2995939b68999d2b79bed4cd07936a703837620c87784732726db7baa95b04615f1434bbcad28b4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/198835/cdc_198835_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.81 MB ]