Occupational Asthma Health Article

Definition

Occupational asthma is a form of lung disease in which the breathing passages shrink, swell, or become inflamed or congested as a result of exposure to irritants in the workplace.

Description

As many as 15% of all cases of asthma may be related to on-the-job exposure to:

• animal hair
• dander
• dust composed of bacteria, protein, or organic matter like cereal, grains, cotton, and flax
• fumes created by metal soldering

• insulation and packaging materials
• mites and other insects
• paints

Hundreds of different types of jobs involve exposure to substances that could trigger occupational asthma, but only a small fraction of people who do such work develop this disorder. Occupational asthma is most apt to affect workers who have personal or family histories of allergies or asthma, or who are often required to handle or breathe dust or fumes created by especially irritating material.

Causes and symptoms

More than 240 causes of occupational asthma have been identified. Even short-term exposure to low levels of one or more irritating substances can cause a very sensitive person to develop symptoms of occupational asthma. A person who has occupational asthma has one or more symptoms, including coughing, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, and wheezing. Symptoms may appear less than 24 hours after the person is first exposed to the irritant or develop two or three years later.

At first, symptoms appear while the person is at work or several hours after the end of the workday. Symptoms disappear or diminish when the person spends time away from the workplace and return or intensify when exposure is renewed.

As the condition becomes more advanced, symptoms sometimes occur even when the person is not in the workplace. Symptoms may also develop in response to minor sources of lung irritation.