Pneumomediastinum is a possible acute complication of severe occupational asthma.

Occupational asthma has been reported to be the most common chronic respiratory occupational disease in many developed countries, and as with other occupational lung diseases, occupational asthma is potentially preventable. We report the case of a 24-year-old baker who experienced pneumomediastinum as a consequence of workplace exposure. This is the first report of pneumomediastinum as an acute complication of occupational asthma, and it exemplarily shows that the lack of medical surveillance at the workplace may lead to an acute, although unusual, complication.