Occupational characteristics of 318 cases diagnosed as occupational asthma / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To summarize the clinical characteristics of occupational asthma and provide a basis for revising the diagnosis of occupational asthma in China.@*Methods@#Taking "occupational asthma" , "occupational bronchial asthma" and "bronchial provocation test at work site" as key words, the case reports of occupational asthma in China were retrieved. The general data, latent period, allergen, clinical manifestation, and diagnostic methods were analyzed.@*Results@#A total 318 cases from 14 published literatures were reported.The incidence of male and female is basically similar. The average age of onset is 38 years, and the latent period is from 2 months to 19 years. The top 3 allergens were isocyanates, penicillin and cephalosporins, formaldehyde. During the diagnosis process, 48.8% of the patients were diagnosed by bronchial provocation test, and 19 cases were diagnosed according to the specific IgE antibody. Only 1 case was diagnosed according to the specific skin test.@*Conclusion@#The etiological diagnosis of occupational asthma is not easy. Nearly half of the patients in our country have been diagnosed as occupational asthma by bronchial provocation test at work site. How to identify the relationship between occupational exposure and the occurrence of asthma is one of the main problems we need to solve.