EDITORIAL

Respiratory medicine

The role of occupation in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

M Meldrum, R Rawbone, A D Curran, D Fishwick

Health and Safety Laboratory and University of Sheffield, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr D Fishwick
Health and Safety Laboratory and University of Sheffield, Harpur Hill, Buxton SK17 9JN, UK; david.fishwick@hsl.gov.uk

---

A discussion of current issues

---

Keywords: COPD; health and safety executive; occupation; workplace dust exposure

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide.¹ In the UK, COPD is given as the cause of death on about 30 000 death certificates annually.² This represents 5.1% of all deaths. The prevalence of COPD is difficult to determine because the condition does not usually manifest until mid-life, when it is already moderately advanced. In England and Wales, it is estimated that there are currently 900 000 diagnosed cases, and allowing for under-diagnosis the true prevalence is estimated to be 1.5 million.³ The total annual cost to the National Health Service for the treatment of COPD is thought to be £491 652 000 in direct costs, and £982 000 000 including indirect costs, causing 21.9 million working days to be lost in 1994–95 as a result of this condition.

A recent clinical study from the UK noted that in a random sample . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Design of exposure questionnaires for epidemiological studies

M J Nieuwenhuijsen
Occup. Environ. Med. 2005 62: 272-280. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hart, J E, Laden, F, Eisen, E A, Smith, T J, Garshick, E (2009). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease mortality in railroad workers. Occup. Environ. Med. 66: 221-226 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Blanc, P. D., Menezes, A. M. B., Plana, E., Mannino, D. M., Hallal, P. C., Toren, K., Eisner, M. D., Zock, J-P. (2009). Occupational exposures and COPD: an ecological analysis of international data. Eur Respir J 33: 298-304 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• LeVan, T. D., Koh, W.-P., Lee, H.-P., Koh, D., Yu, M. C., London, S. J. (2006). Vapor, Dust, and Smoke Exposure in Relation to Adult-Onset Asthma and Chronic Respiratory Symptoms: The Singapore Chinese Health Study. Am J Epidemiol 163: 1118-1128 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Christiani, D C (2005). Occupation and COPD. Occup. Environ. Med. 62: 215-215 [Full Text]  
• Loomis, D. (2005). Work in brief. Occup. Environ. Med. 62: 211-211 [Full Text]