Occupational asthma has become one of the most common forms of occupational lung disease in industrialised countries and accounts for up to 15 per cent of all adult asthma cases, according to a report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The Italian authors of report conclude the most cost-effective method of lowering the rate of occupational asthma is to reduce workers' exposure to offending agents as soon as possible to prevent sensitisation.

Workers in the construction, metal, rubber, plastic, printing and industrial cleaning fields have the greatest risk of occupational asthma, the article said. It said the most common cause of this allergic occupational asthma include: wood dust; epoxy compounds in spray paint; animal, plant, insect and fungal allergens; cleaning agents; flour dust; and food and animal protein. Irritant-induced asthma accounts for about 7 per cent of occupational asthma cases. Metal refining, fertilizer manufacturing and mining are among the industries where workers can develop irritant-based asthma.

The UK Health and Safety Executive reported that paint sprayers in vehicle body shops run 80 times the risk of developing occupational asthma as the workforce as a whole.

Source: Cristina E Mapp and others. 2005. Occupational Asthma. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 172: 280-305. [Read the abstract].