Reference

BOHRF Original Authors' Main Conclusions

The original authors' main conclusions are taken from Abstract, Results and Discussion. They are decided upon by the authors of the BOHRF occupational asthma guidelines and form part of the guidelines.

Serial peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurement is usually the most appropriate first step in the confirmation of occupational asthma. A computer assisted diagnostic aid (OASYS-2) has been developed. 268 PEF records were collected from workers attending clinic for investigation of suspected occupational asthma and from workers participating in a study of respiratory symptoms in a postal sorting office, and were divided into 2 development sets and two gold standard sets. The latter consisted of records from workers in which a final diagnosis had been reached by a method other than PEF recording. Comparison with gold standard set 1 identified a cut off which proved to have a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 94% for an independent diagnosis of occupational asthma when applied to gold standard set 2. The performance of OASYS-2 is more specific and approaches the sensitivity of other statistical methods of analysis. The evaluation of a large number of PEF records from workers exposed to different sensitising agents suggests that these results should be robust and should be repeatable in clinical practice

The following comments are from the editors of the BOHRF occupational asthma guidelines and form part of the guidelines.

mostly low molecular weight agents

BOHRF Associated Evidence Statements

The BOHRF occupational asthma guidelines state that this reference is associated with the following evidence statements