Nurses and cleaners at greater asthma risk
31 July 2007

Nurses are roughly twice as likely as people with other jobs to develop asthma, according to a report in The Lancet medical journal.

Dr Manolis Kogevinas and colleagues, from the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain, also found that cleaners were 71% more likely to develop occupational-related asthma compared to the general public, and that workplace conditions could be responsible for up to 25% of new asthma cases in industrialised countries.

The team tested 6,837 subjects, who had previously taken part in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey from 1990 to 1995. The participants had been reported as having no respiratory symptoms or history of asthma when they had taken part in the original study, and the team aimed to estimate the risk of developing new asthma.

The findings confirmed that exposure to certain cleaning chemicals, bioaerosols, mites, agricultural products and latex in the workplace raise the risk of developing asthma.

Of major occupation groups, nurses had 2.2-times the risk of asthma compared to the group as a whole; cleaners had 1.7-times the risk.

Workers exposed to an 'acute symptomatic inhalation event,' such as a chemical spill or fire, were 3.3-times more likely to develop asthma than non-exposed workers.

Based on their findings, the researchers estimate that each year, roughly 250 to 300 cases of occupation-related asthma occur for every one million people.

Jenny Versnel, Asthma UK’s Executive Director of Research and Policy said: 'This research is significant because it highlights the levels of occupational asthma and the need for employers to recognise potential sensitisers and triggers in the workplace.

'The number of work days lost to asthma is at least 12.7 million every year in the UK and we’re encouraging employers to sign up to our Workplace Charter, which sets out 10 steps to reduce the impact of asthma in the workplace. It was set up in partnership with the Health & Safety Executive and is already supported by numerous companies including Sainsbury’s and The Body Shop.'