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Occupational Asthma

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Bronchial Asthma

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Abstract

There are 25 million asthmatics in the USA, but estimates of the fraction that have occupational asthma (OA) vary widely. The reported prevalence of OA among all adult asthmatics ranges between 2 and 36% (1, 2). It is estimated that up to 25% of all “adult-onset” asthmatics have a workplace trigger for their disease. One explanation for the varied prevalence rates is that the OA diagnosis may not be as stringent in some retrospective studies as it is in documented worker compensation cases. In one of the largest retrospective series covering three decades of studies, Blanc and Toren concluded that one in ten adult asthmatics had an occupational trigger for their disease (3). The more conservative estimate, therefore, is that the prevalence of OA is 5–10% of all adult asthma cases.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Nicholas J. Kenyon MD, MAS & Michael Schivo MD, MAS

  2. UC Davis Center for Comparative Respiratory Biology and Medicine, Davis, CA, USA

    Nicholas J. Kenyon MD, MAS & Michael Schivo MD, MAS

  3. VA Northern California Health Care System, Mather, CA, USA

    Nicholas J. Kenyon MD, MAS, Brian M. Morrissey MD, Michael Schivo MD, MAS & Timothy E. Albertson MD, MPH, phD

  4. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California at Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Brian M. Morrissey MD

  5. Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California at Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Timothy E. Albertson MD, MPH, phD

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  1. Nicholas J. Kenyon MD, MAS
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  2. Brian M. Morrissey MD
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  3. Michael Schivo MD, MAS
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  4. Timothy E. Albertson MD, MPH, phD
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Correspondence to Nicholas J. Kenyon MD, MAS .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy &, University of California, Davis, Davis, 95616, California, USA

    M. Eric Gershwin

  2. , Pulmonary and Critical Care, UC Davis Medical Group, J St. 2825, Davis, 95816, California, USA

    Timothy E. Albertson

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Kenyon, N.J., Morrissey, B.M., Schivo, M., Albertson, T.E. (2012). Occupational Asthma. In: Gershwin, M., Albertson, T. (eds) Bronchial Asthma. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6836-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6836-4_12

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