Occupational exposures associated with severe exacerbation of asthma

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andersson E ; Dahlman-Hoglund A ; Henneberger, Paul K. ; Liang X ; Lillienberg L ; Torén, Kjell
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: The exacerbation of asthma by workplace conditions is common, but little is known about which agents pose a risk. OBJECTIVE: We used data from an existing survey of adults with asthma to identify occupational exposures associated with severe exacerbation of asthma. DESIGN: Questionnaires were completed by 557 working adults with asthma. Severe exacerbation of asthma in the past 12 months was defined as asthma-related hospitalization, or reports of both unplanned asthma care and treatment with a short course of oral corticosteroids. Occupational exposures for the same time period were assessed using an asthma-specific job exposure matrix. We modeled severe exacerbation to yield prevalence ratios (PRs) for exposures while controlling for potential confounders. RESULTS: A total of 164 participants (29%) were positive for severe exacerbation, and 227 (40.8%) were assessed as being exposed to asthma agents at work. Elevated PRs were observed for several specific agents, notably the irritant subcategories of environmental tobacco smoke (PR 1.84, 95%CI 1.34-2.51) among all participants, inorganic dusts (PR 2.53, 95%CI 1.37- 4.67) among men, and the low molecular weight subcategory of other highly reactive agents (PR 1.97, 95%CI 1.08-3.60) among women. CONCLUSION: Among working adults with asthma, severe exacerbation was associated with several occupational agents. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Dust Epidemiology Inorganic Chemicals Men Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Smoke Surveys And Questionnaires Tobacco Products Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Work-exacerbated Asthma Bronchial-asthma Dusts Exposure-levels Humans Inorganic-compounds Job-exposure Matrix Occupational Epidemiology Questionnaires Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Tobacco-smoke Work-environment Workers

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• ISSN:
  1027-3719
• 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
• Pages in Document:
  244-250
• Volume:
  19
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20045558
• Citation:
  Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2015 Feb; 19(2):244-250
• Contact Point Address:
  P K Henneberger, Division of Respiratory Disease Studies, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1095 Willowdale Road, MS H2800, Morgantown, WV 26505
• Email:
  pkhO@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:9220df982a2cf749aabc817bb8df9c40d83eade7e195c00c8897245220c6191026b49d6d63a384b60e06f8882971dcf27c044e54fa9305a0ac6f2874cc75e817
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200933/cdc_200933_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 542.46 KB ]