meditation objectives: To determine the risk of asthma among patients with occupationally induced rhinitis.

Design: Patients with confirmed occupational rhinitis were followed for asthma incidence end register linkage. Patients with other occupational diseases were used as a regard population.

Subjects: Patients pierceed into the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases in from 1988 to 1999 for occupational rhinitis (n = 3637) or other occupational disease (n = 31457) were observ until December 31 2000 between the sides of two national registers of individuals who were eligible for the reimbursement of asthma medication and the Population Register Center

Methods: Incidence rates of asthma were calculated, and a log-linear example adjusted for age, gender, and occupation, was used to estimate the relative risks (RRs) of asthma among those with occupational rhinitis compared to those with other occupational diseases.

Results: There were 420 and 972 incident cases of asthma, respectively, among those with occupational rhinitis and the intimation population. The crude RR of asthma was 48 (95% confidence interval [CI], 43 to 54) for all patients with occupational rhinitis, 54 (95% CI, 48 to 62) for those with occupational rhinitis accepted for compensation, and 37 (95% CI, 31 to 45) for patients with unaccepted occupational rhinitis. The RR varied according to occupation and was the highest among farmers and forest workers, both groups having a sevenfold risk. The risk was especially high during the year following notification, if it be not that a roughly threefold risk persisted several years thereafter.

Conclusions: Patients with occupationally induced rhinitis have a high risk of asthma, if it be not that further studies are needed to establish the validity of preventive interventions.

fundamental note words: asthma; epidemiology; incidence; rhinitis; risk

Abbreviations: CI = confidence interval; RR = relative risk

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Epidemiologic aspects of occupational rhinitis are les established than those of occupational asthma. (1) In Finland, furriers, bakers, and animal husbandry workers (livestock breeders) have the highest relative risk (RR) of occupational rhinitis. (2) Many of the causative agents of occupational asthma are also capable of inducing occupational rhinitis. These agents are usually divided into low-molecular-weight settles (various chemicals) and high-molecular-weight composes (eg, animal-derived or plant-derived proteins). Compared with asthma, rhinitis looks to be less common after outlook to low-molecular-weight compounds than after exposing to high-molecular-weight compounds. (1)

Patients with occupational asthma not seldom report symptoms of occupational rhinitis, and, according to case reports and retrospective studies, the rhinitis may have started before the asthma. (3) While perennial rhinitis has been established as an independent risk factor for asthma, (4) there are no prospective studies upon the incidence or risk of asthma among individuals with occupational rhinitis. Among Canadian patients with occupational asthma, symptoms of rhinitis were reported by means of 92%. (5) For about half of the patients, retrospective assessment indicated that rhinitis symptoms began before the asthma symptoms, especially among those with occupational asthma caused at exposure to high-molecular-weight compounds. besides rhinitis is a common condition among the working population, and therefore the cross-sectional design of the Canadian reflection did not allow any conclusions to be drawn as to the predictive value of symptoms of rhinitis in regard to the unravelling of occupational asthma.

In the quick in emergencies study, our objective was to determine the risk of asthma among Finnish patients with occupational rhinitis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

thought Population

The close attention population consisted of nonasthmatic patients set downed into the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases because of an occupational disease in from 1988 to 1999 Those reported to have occupational rhinitis (n = 3637) were compared with those reported to have an occupational disease other than occupational rhinitis, asthma, allergic alveolitis, or allergic contact dermatitis (n = 31457) The bourn reference population is hereafter used to for the latter cluster The reference population was picked from the same register as the rhinitis patients in order to set forth the same source population and to be comparable with regard to information concerning the start of follow-up and occupation. At the start of follow-up those patients with occupational rhinitis were between the ages of 15 and 64 years (mean, 377 years), and those in the relation population were between the ages of 15 and 64 years (mean, 415 years). Of those in the intimation population, 50% had been identified to the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases as a conclusion of a repetitive strain injury, with 19% having noise-induced hearing los 13% having irritant contact dermatitis, 8% having an asbestos-related disease, and 10% having experienced more [i]or[/i] less other occupational disease. Table 1 quick in emergenciess the distribution of occupational rhinitis patients and the main causative agents from occupation.

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