Occupational asthma
- In patients with adult onset, or reappearance of childhood asthma, healthcare professionals should consider that there may be an occupational cause
- Adults with airflow obstruction should be asked:
- are you better on days away from work?
- are you better on holiday?
- Those with positive answers should be investigated for occupational asthma
- In suspected work-related asthma, the diagnosis of asthma should be confirmed using standard objective criteria
- Objective diagnosis of occupational asthma should be made using serial peak flow measurements, with at least four readings per day
- Skin prick testing or tests for specific IgE should be used in the investigation of occupational asthma
caused by high molecular weight agents - A single measurement of non-specific reactivity should not be used
for the validation of occupational asthma - Relocation away from exposure should occur as soon as diagnosis is
confirmed, and ideally within 12 months of the first work-related
symptoms of asthma
Work-related asthma and rhinitis: case finding and management in primary care
full guidelines available from…
thorax.bmj.com/content/69/Suppl_1.toc
British Thoracic Society, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network. British guideline on the management of asthma. Thorax 2014;69: i1–i192. October 2014.
Reproduced with kind permission from BMJ and Thorax.
First included: September 2014.
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