Prevalence and risk factors of asthma among cleaners in the north east of England.

Abstract

Introduction A number of epidemiological studies have shown a significant association between asthma and work as cleaner but reporting schemes and workforce surveys have identified typical features of occupational asthma in only a small minority of cleaners. This discrepancy is due either due to under-reporting by clinician; misattribution of work-exacerbated asthma or other respiratory disease by the epidemiological studies, or the development of occupational asthma with atypical symptoms that make it identifiable epidemiologically but difficult to diagnose clinically. Hypothesis The study hypothesis is that cleaners’ asthma is induced by chronic low-level irritant exposures that gradually induce airway hyper-responsiveness but do not cause work-related airway constriction/symptoms. It is thus identified by epidemiologists but is not easily identifiable clinically. Aim The aim of this PhD is to identify the proportion of cleaners with feature of occupational asthma and to identify risk factors for cleaners’ asthma.