Asthma not a reason to turn down firefighter applicants

This study reviewed asthmatics sent for evaluation pre-acceptance as firefighters, and found that those with current treatment asthma or NSBR did as well as those who had had no asthma for 2 years before employment. 2/116 asthmatics were rejected for employment. After one year of fire fighting only 2/90 operational firefighters had problems with their asthma suggesting that asthma is not a reason for refusing firefighting employment.

I also learnt a new word from this paper, dysanapsis

This explains a low FEV1/FVC ratio when the FEV1 is normal but the FVC is raised

This is apparently due to unequal growth between the tracheo-bronchial tree and the lung parenchyma during embryonic development (or later)

References

	Kabir T, Schofield S, Fitzgerald B, Cannon J, Szram J, Feary J, Assessment and outcomes of firefighter applicants with possible asthma, Occup Med, 2022;72:118-124,doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab162

	Thompson BR, Dysanapsis—Once Believed to be a Physiological Curiosity—Is Now Clinically Important, Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 2017;195:277-278,10.1164/rccm.201609-1959ED

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