Original Articles: Environmental and Occupational DisordersOccupational asthma caused by natural rubber latex: Outcome according to cessation or reduction of exposure☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Subjects
The study included 36 subjects who met the following criteria: (1) a diagnosis of LOA had been confirmed by specific inhalation challenge with latex gloves; (2) an initial assessment of lung function tests within 48 hours of exposure to the causative workplace was available; (3) the subject had either completely avoided or markedly reduced exposure to airborne latex at follow-up; and (4) the duration of follow-up since the initial examination was at least 12 months. The subjects were initially
Baseline characteristics
The subjects who ceased exposure to latex did not differ from those with reduced exposure for most demographic features (Table I).
Empty Cell Cessation of latex exposure (n = 16) Reduction of latex exposure (n = 20) Female sex: n (%) 15 (94) 17 (85) Age* (y) 32 (29-36) 32 (30-35) Occupation: n (%) Health care workers 11 (69) 19 (95) Non–health care workers 5 (31) 1 (5) Smokers and exsmokers: n (%) 2 (12) 2 (10) Positive skin test results to aeroallergens: n
Discussion
We found that in the subjects who reduced their exposure to latex, the improvement in asthma and rhinitis symptoms, as well as in the level of nonspecific bron-chial hyperresponsiveness, was similar to what was observed in the subjects who avoided exposure to latex. However, removal from exposure was associated with more pronounced work disability, income loss, and perceived impairment of professional and social activities. When compensation benefits were taken into account, the final income
Acknowledgements
We thank Lori Schubert for reviewing the manuscript.
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2015, Respiratory MedicineCitation Excerpt :In the study by Bradshaw et al. [9], a significant proportion of workers with occupational asthma continued working with asthmagens that caused ongoing symptoms, since the fear of financial loss through job loss was greater than the concern for their own respiratory health. This is understandable as around 85% of workers who leave their employment (to become unemployed or find alternative work) suffer a loss of income of 22–50% [28–31]. Additionally, a large proportion of the costs of occupational asthma are borne by the individual worker (49%) rather than the employer (3%), who therefore has little incentive to act [5].
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Supported by the Services Fédéraux des Affaires Scientifiques, Techniques et Culturelles, Programme d’appui scientifique à la protection des travailleurs (grant SSTC PS/10/44).
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Reprint requests: Olivier Vandenplas, MD, Service de Pneumologie, Cliniques Universitaires de Mont-Godinne, 5530 Yvoir, Belgium.