Occupational exposures linked with increased risk of COPD.
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A study with more than 3,300 participants in 12 countries has established a relationship between occupational exposure to biological dusts, gases, fumes and pesticides and COPD.
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The researchers did a follow-up of the participants 20 years after the first assessment.
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After assessing occupational exposure to 12 different agents, results showed that participants exposed to biological dust had a 60% higher risk of COPD compared with those unexposed.
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Participants exposed to gases and fumes had a 50% higher risk of COPD, while in the case of those exposed to pesticides the risk was a 120% higher.
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However, the effect observed with pesticides was based on a small number of cases. Overall, results showed that 21% of the in total 96 cases of COPD detected at follow-up were associated with these occupational exposures.
Theodore Lytras, Manolis Kogevinas, Hans Kromhout, Anne-Elie Carsin, Josep M Antó, Hayat Bentouhami, Joost Weyler, Joachim Heinrich, Dennis Nowak, Isabel Urrutia, Jesús Martinez-Moratalla, José Antonio Gullón, Antonio Pereira-Vega, Chantal Raherison-Semjen, Isabelle Pin, Pascal Demoly, Bénédicte Leynaert, Simona Villani, Thorarinn Gislason, Cecilie Svanes, Mathias Holm, Bertil Forsberg, Dan Norbäck, Amar J Mehta, Nicole Probst-Hensch, Geza Benke, Rain Jogi, Kjell Torén, Torben Sigsgaard, Vivi Schlünssen, Mario Olivieri, Paul D Blanc, Roel Vermeulen, Judith Garcia-Aymerich, Deborah Jarvis, Jan-Paul Zock. Occupational exposures and 20-year incidence of COPD: the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. Thorax, 2018; thoraxjnl-2017-211158 DOI: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2017-211158
