PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Stocks, S Jill AU - McNamee, Roseanne AU - van der Molen, Henk F AU - Paris, Christophe AU - Urban, Pavel AU - Campo, Giuseppe AU - Sauni, Riitta AU - Martínez Jarreta, Begoña AU - Valenty, Madeleine AU - Godderis, Lode AU - Miedinger, David AU - Jacquetin, Pascal AU - Gravseth, Hans M AU - Bonneterre, Vincent AU - Telle-Lamberton, Maylis AU - Bensefa-Colas, Lynda AU - Faye, Serge AU - Mylle, Godewina AU - Wannag, Axel AU - Samant, Yogindra AU - Pal, Teake AU - Scholz-Odermatt, Stefan AU - Papale, Adriano AU - Schouteden, Martijn AU - Colosio, Claudio AU - Mattioli, Stefano AU - Agius, Raymond AU - , TI - Trends in incidence of occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders in European countries from 2000 to 2012 AID - 10.1136/oemed-2014-102534 DP - 2015 Apr 01 TA - Occupational and Environmental Medicine PG - 294--303 VI - 72 IP - 4 4099 - http://oem.bmj.com/content/72/4/294.short 4100 - http://oem.bmj.com/content/72/4/294.full SO - Occup Environ Med2015 Apr 01; 72 AB - Objectives The European Union (EU) strategy for health and safety at work underlines the need to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases (OD), but European statistics to evaluate this common goal are scarce. We aim to estimate and compare changes in incidence over time for occupational asthma, contact dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders across 10 European countries. Methods OD surveillance systems that potentially reflected nationally representative trends in incidence within Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK provided data. Case counts were analysed using a negative binomial regression model with year as the main covariate. Many systems collected data from networks of ‘centres’, requiring the use of a multilevel negative binomial model. Some models made allowance for changes in compensation or reporting rules. Results Reports of contact dermatitis and asthma, conditions with shorter time between exposure to causal substances and OD, were consistently declining with only a few exceptions. For OD with physical causal exposures there was more variation between countries. Reported NIHL was increasing in Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands and decreasing elsewhere. Trends in CTS and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders varied widely within and between countries. Conclusions This is the first direct comparison of trends in OD within Europe and is consistent with a positive impact of European initiatives addressing exposures relevant to asthma and contact dermatitis. Taking a more flexible approach allowed comparisons of surveillance data between and within countries without harmonisation of data collection methods.