Asthma, occupational

Disease/Syndrome
Asthma, occupational
Category
Airway Disease
Acute/Chronic
Chronic
Synonyms
Occupational Asthma (OA);
Biomedical References
Comments
Immunologic asthma develops after a variable period of time during which sensitization to an agent present in the workplace takes place. Immunologic asthma can be classified as that caused by high-molecular or low-molecular weight compounds. To make the diagnosis of occupational asthma (OA), one must first confirm the presence of airway hyperreactivity. [Sullivan, p. 218] "Occupational asthma is a disease characterized by variable airflow limitation and/or hyperresponsiveness and/or inflammation due to causes and conditions attributable to a particular occupational environment and not to stimuli encountered outside the workplace." The two types of OA are: 1.) After a latency (allergic); and 2.) Without a latency period (nonallergic). The second type includes irritant induced asthma or RADS, which follows single or multiple exposures to "nonspecific irritants at high concentrations." [Asthma in the Workplace, p. 4-5] In Norway from 1995-1999, an average of 223 annual cases were reported with the highest incidence in the primary aluminum industry, and in bakers, car painters, and welders. [PMID 16142736] In the UK, about half of all new cases are caused by isocyanates, flour/grain, glutaraldehyde, solder/colophony, laboratory animals, resins/glues, and latex. [PMID 14504356] In 1993-1997 surveillance data from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 16% of cases were health-care workers, many of them nurses, with cleaning products, latex, and poor air quality the most frequently reported exposures. In the updated report for 1993-2000, 9% of work-related asthma cases were reported in educational services due to indoor air pollutants, unspecified mold, dusts, and cleaning products. [PMID 15712261]; [PMID 18033692] OA decreased in the West Midlands, UK between 1991 and 2011.associated with preventive activities to raise awareness of isocyanate exposure in motor vehicle repair body shops and to substitute nitrile for latex gloves, non-colophony for colophony soldering fluxes, and other disinfectants for glutaraldehyde in cold sterilization. [PMID 25608805] From 2000 to 2012, incidence of OA was declining in most countries "consistent with a positive impact of European initiatives addressing the relevant exposures." [PMID 25575531] "Update of an occupational asthma-specific job exposure matrix to assess exposure to 30 specific agents." [PMID 29650699] "An increase of fractional exhaled nitric oxide after specific inhalation challenge is highly predictive of occupational asthma." [PMID 29850946] "A compendium of causative agents of occupational asthma." [23706060] See "Asthma, irritant induced."
Latency/Incubation
Months to years
Diagnostic
History; Pulmonary function test; Methacholine challenge test; Specific challenge test
ICD-9 Code
493.0
ICD-10 Code
J45.2

Symptoms/Findings, Job Tasks, and Agents Linked to This Disease

Symptoms/Findings
Job Tasks

High risk job tasks associated with this disease:

Agents

Hazardous agents that cause the occupational disease: