Progress in Occupational Asthma

Angelica I. Tiotiu, Silviya Novakova, Marina Labor, Alexander Emelyanov, Stefan Mihaicuta, Plamena Novakova and Denislava Nedeva
Additional contact information
Angelica I. Tiotiu: Department of Pulmonology, University Hospital of Nancy, 54000 Nancy, France
Silviya Novakova: Allergy Unit, Internal Consulting Department, University Hospital “St. George”, 4000 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Marina Labor: Department of Pulmonology, University Hospital Centre Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Alexander Emelyanov: Department of Respiratory Medicine, North-Western Medical University, 191015 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Stefan Mihaicuta: Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300120 Timisoara, Romania
Plamena Novakova: Clinic of Clinical Allergy, Medical University, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
Denislava Nedeva: Medical University Sofia, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Occupational asthma (OA) represents one of the major public health problems due to its high prevalence, important social and economic burden. The aim of this review is to summarize current data about clinical phenotypes, biomarkers, diagnosis and management of OA, a subtype of work-related asthma. Most studies have identified two phenotypes of OA. One is sensitizer-induced asthma, occuring after a latency period and caused by hypersensitivity to high- or low-molecular weight agents. The other is irritant-induced asthma, which can occur after one or more exposures to high concentrations of irritants without latency period. More than 400 agents causing OA have been identified and its list is growing fast. The best diagnostic approach for OA is a combination of clinical history and objective tests. An important tool is a specific inhalation challenge. Additional tests include assessments of bronchial hyperresponsiveness to methacholine/histamine in patients without airflow limitations, monitoring peak expiratory flow at- and off-work, sputum eosinophil count, exhaled nitric oxide measurement, skin prick tests with occupational allergens and serum specific IgE. Treatment of OA implies avoidance of exposure, pharmacotherapy and education. OA is a heterogeneous disease. Mechanisms of its different phenotypes, their diagnosis, role of new biomarkers and treatment require further investigation.

Keywords: occupational asthma; phenotypes; diagnosis; treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4553/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/12/4553/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:12:p:4553-:d:375779

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().