Documents asthma 94 results

"Objectives This study identified occupations with a marked impact on sick leaves due to respiratory disease.Methods A national sick-leave register containing information on all sick leaves exceeding 14 days, physicians' diagnoses, and the occupational status of all manual and service employees in the private sector in Sweden was studied. Sick-leaves during 1992-1994 (N=210 755) were analyzed with special attention to respiratory disease and occupation.Results Respiratory disease accounted for 4.4% of the total number of sick leaves. The incidence of long-term ({>=90 days) sick leaves due to respiratory disease was 3 times higher in occupations with a high incidence than in those with a low incidence. There was a high correlation (r=0.80) between the incidence of long-term sick leave due to respiratory disease and sick leave due to all other conditions; this finding suggests that market and selection factors may play an important role in determining the overall risk for sick leave in various occupations. The proportion of sick leaves due to long-term respiratory disease out of all long-term disease was compared between occupations. Agricultural workers had a 46% higher proportion of long-term respiratory disease than metal workers. Industrial workers, food industry workers, and painters were also occupations with an increased risk. These findings could not be explained by differences in age or smoking habits.Conclusions Major differences were found among manual and service occupations regarding long-term sick leave due to respiratory disease. Several occupations, in which exposure to respiratory sensitizers and irritants are known to occur, were among those in which workers had an increased risk for long-term respiratory disease."

Results of a study of 55 occupational asthma patients indicate that the disease is disabling and probably irreversible for most patients, despite prolonged removal from causative agents. Women, industrial workers and those with severe asthma or lack of a college degree appear to be at risk for worse outcomes. Topics: asthma; degree of disability; handicapped workers; high-risk groups; occupation disease relation; sex-linked differences; sickness absenteeism; state of health; statistical evaluation; unemployment.

"Objectives This study investigated the associations between exposure to fluorides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and mortality from nonmalignant diseases among workers in the Norwegian primary aluminum industry.Methods Mortality among 10 857 men, employed for more than 3 years in 1 of 6 aluminum plants, was investigated from 1962 to 1996, giving 239 246 person-years during follow-up. A job-exposure matrix covering all 6 plants was used to estimate the individual exposure to total fluorides and particulate PAH. The observed cause-specific deaths were compared with expected figures calculated from national rates. Dose-response relations were investigated by internal comparisons using Poisson regression and by stratified analyses for standardized mortality ratio. Potential confounding by smoking was investigated in subanalyses restricted to 3 of the plants for which information on smoking habits was accessible. Results Mortality from circulatory disease was slightly lower than expected [SMR 0.95, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 0.9-1.0], while there was an increased mortality from asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis combined, SMR 1.2 (95% CI 1.0-1.5). Mortality from these diseases was associated with cumulative exposure to fluorides. The rate ratio in the internal analysis rose steadily to 2.5 (95% CI 1.5-4.3) for the upper exposure category. No association was observed between cumulative fluoride exposure or PAH exposure and circulatory mortality. Conclusions The study showed an association between exposure to potroom emissions measured by fluorides and mortality from asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis combined."

"Objective
The aim of this systematic review was to identify, evaluate, and synthesize the relation between ten potential occupational sensitizing exposure groups and asthma.
Methods
A systematic literature search was conducted in three databases for peer-reviewed articles published between July 2011 and March 2023. Exposures included ten potential occupational sensitizing exposure groups (amines, anhydrides, biocides [eg, pesticides], crustaceans, enzymes, mammals, metals, “mold, fungi and yeast”, molluscs, and other chemicals [eg, cleaning agents]) classified as having no or limited evidence of a causal relation with asthma in our previous overview of systematic reviews. We included observational and case studies. Study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment, and evidence level evaluation were conducted independently by two reviewers, who also upgraded or downgraded the level of evidence found in our overview.
Results
This review included 55 articles. The overall confidence in study results was rated high in 8, moderate in 18, and low in 29 studies. No new studies were found for molluscs. For the remaining exposures, we upgraded main groups of crustaceans and enzymes to moderate evidence, mammals and metals to limited/contradictory, and amines and biocides to very limited/contradictory. For subgroups/specific exposures, pesticides, cleaning agents – such as chloramine and disinfection products – and an unspecified group of other chemicals, specifically acrylates and epoxy, were upgraded to moderate.
Conclusion
New occupational sensitizing exposures with moderate evidence include crustaceans, enzymes, pesticides, cleaning agents such as chloramine and disinfection products, and chemicals such as acrylates and epoxy."

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"The study, done by the University of Sheffield, shows that REACH would help avoid 50,000 cases of occupational respiratory diseases and 40,000 cases of occupational skin diseases from exposure to dangerous chemicals in Europe each year. That would add up to total average savings of 3.5 billion euros over 10 years for the EU-25. The savings would boost social security coffers through reduced sickness benefit payments, while workers will enjoy health-related quality of life gains, and employers in all sectors will avoid productivity losses from sickness absenteeism."