[Occupational bronchial asthma in Poland in 2003-2007]

Abstract

Bronchial asthma has been specified as a separate category of pathologies caused by occupational environment in the late 2002 into the list of occupational diseases. The number of cases of occupational asthma recorded during the five-year period (2003-2007) when the statistical data was collected and processed equalled 521; of those, 70.6% cases were recorded in men. The contribution of asthma to the overall number of occupational pathologies was 2.9%, while the incidence was 1.1 per 100 thousand paid employees. The number of new cases per year showed a falling trend. In 2007, it was by 38.8% lower than in 2003. Flour dust was the most frequent cause of asthma (51.2% cases), followed by other dusts of vegetable and animal origin (27.1%). Among chemical agents, disinfectants were most frequently quoted as the cause (3.3%). Over half (51.6%) of the asthma cases were diagnosed in people processing or selling food products. Of those, nearly all (99.3%) developed asthma due to contact with flour dust at the workplace. Most of that group (92.9%) were bakers and pastry cooks. Farmers were the second most numerous group of asthmatic workers (25.9%); of those, 93.3% developed asthma by contact with dusts of plant and animal origin and mites found in those dusts.