25574926

PMC4580241

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.

CDC Public Access

KLB9/Intramural CDC HHS/United States