14.7% of acute exaxerbations of asthma related to occupational exposures

An analysis of asthmatics in the ECRHS study looked at the population attributable risk of occupational exposures causing acute exacerbations of asthma. The Population Attributable Risk was estimated at 14.7% amongst all asthmatics identified (excluding those with new onset asthma to remove those with the early stages of occupational asthma). This figure is in line with the estimate of around 20% of adult onset asthma having an occupational cause, but derived in a completely differnt way, and making no assumptions of mechanism. There were too few numbers of acute exacerbations for meaningful estimates for different occupational groups, but the highest risk was in bakers (Relative risk 7.9). Exposure to dust, gas or fumes derived from a job exposure matrix increased the relative risk to 3.1 in the high exposure group.

References

	Henneberger PK, Mirabelli MC, Kogevinas M, Antó JM, Plana E, Dahlman-Höglund A, Jarvis DL, Kromhout H, Lillienberg L, Norbäck D, Olivieri M, Radon K, Torén K, Urrutia I, Villani S, Zock JP, The occupational contribution to severe exacerbation of asthma, Eur Respir J, 2010;36:743-750,

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