Focus on work-related asthma

G. Moscato

Work-related asthma, encompassing both occupational asthma and work-exacerbated asthma, accounts for 10%-25% of adult asthma in Europe and occupational asthma is currently one of the most common forms of occupational lung disease in many industrialized countries. It is cause of direct and indirect costs for the worker, the employer and the society and it is probably still underdiagnosed. Hence, the possibility of work-related asthma should be considered in all adult patients in whom asthma started or worsened during their working life. The investigation of WRA includes assessing the presence of asthma, and demonstrating its work-relatedness, that requires training and expertise. Due to the frequent association of occupational asthma and rhinitis, the presence of both upper and lower airway symptoms should be investigated. Furthermore, since is work-related asthma is a preventable disease all efforts should be made for effective prevention strategies.
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