OBJECTIVES To examine trends in estimated population based incidence of occupational asthma by age, sex, occupation, geographical region, and causal agents based on 9 years of the Surveillance of Work Related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (SWORD) data. METHODS In January 1989 the SWORD scheme for the surveillance of occupational respiratory disease was established in the United Kingdom...

BACKGROUND During the past decade, incidence of asthma has increased, which might have been due to environmental exposures. OBJECTIVES Considering the expansion of cable manufacturing industry in Iran, the present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of occupational asthma in a cable manufacturing company in Iran as well as its related factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS This study was ...

BACKGROUND Occupational asthma is a common type of asthma caused by a specific agent in the workplace. The basic alteration of occupational asthma is airways inflammation. Although most patients with occupational asthma are mature adults, there is evidence that airways inflammation starts soon after inception of exposure, including during apprenticeship. Airways hyper responsiveness to methacho...

Although most cases of food allergy are related to food ingestion, occupational exposure to foods by contact or inhalation may also lead to adverse reactions, inducing contact urticaria or dermatitis, asthma, rhinitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and anaphylaxis. Almost 10–25% of cases of allergic occupational asthma and rhinitis are due to food products. Animal and vegetal highmolecular weig...

AIMS To update notifications to the Occupational Safety and Health Service of the Department of Labour (OSH) Notifiable Occupational Disease System (NODS) from June 1996 to the beginning of 1999. METHODS All notifications received for non-asbestos related occupational respiratory disease were reviewed to confirm the clinical diagnosis, occupational causation, and to identify the causative age...

OBJECTIVES Wood dust is a known occupational allergen that may induce, in exposed workers, respiratory diseases including asthma and allergic rhinitis. Samba (obeche, Triplochiton scleroxylon) is a tropical tree, which grows in West Africa, therefore, Polish workers are rarely exposed to it. This paper describes a case of occupational asthma caused by samba wood dust. MATERIAL AND METHODS The...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Respiratory irritants represent a major cause of occupational obstructive airway diseases. We provide an overview of the evidence related to irritative agents causing occupational asthma or occupational COPD. METHODS We searched MEDLINE via PubMed. Reference lists of relevant reviews were also screened. The SIGN grading system was used to rate the quality of each stud...

The present birth cohort study investigated whether or not childhood wheeze and asthma are associated with parental exposure to occupational sensitisers that cause asthma. Parental occupation, from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), was related to wheeze, asthma, ventilatory function, airway responsiveness and atopic sensitisation in children aged 0-102 months. Occupa...

BACKGROUND The influence of occupation and ex/passive smoking on inflammatory phenotype is not well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between occupation, past smoking and current passive smoking and airway inflammation in a population of adults with refractory asthma. METHODS Sixty-six participants with refractory asthma were characterised. Occupational exposur...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and physician-diagnosed asthma and assess the impact of current occupational exposure. DESIGN Cross-sectional analyses of the prevalence of self-reported respiratory health and association with current occupational exposure in a random sample of the general population in Telemark County, Norway. SETTINGS...