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The global burden of non‐malignant respiratory disease due to occupational airborne exposures
Author(s) -
Driscoll Timothy,
Nelson Deborah Imel,
Steenland Kyle,
Leigh James,
ConchaBarrientos Marisol,
Fingerhut Marilyn,
PrüssÜstün Annette
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20210
Subject(s) - medicine , copd , asthma , environmental health , pneumoconiosis , occupational disease , occupational asthma , occupational lung disease , disease burden , occupational exposure , population , pathology
Background Occupational non‐malignant respiratory disease arises from exposure of workers to airborne agents, mostly particulate or dusts. We describe the worldwide mortality and morbidity from asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumoconioses arising from these occupational exposure and focus on cases reported in the year 2000. Methods The proportions of workers exposed to the agents, and their levels of exposure, were estimated using workforce data and the CAREX (CARcinogen EXposure) database. These were combined with relative risk measures (for asthma and COPD) or absolute risk measures (for the pneumoconioses) to develop estimates of deaths, disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs) and attributable fraction (for asthma and COPD). Results There were an estimated 386,000 deaths (asthma: 38,000; COPD: 318,000; pneumoconioses: 30,000) and nearly 6.6 million DALYS (asthma: 1,621,000; COPD: 3,733,000, pneumoconioses: 1,288,000) due to exposure to occupational airborne particulates. Conclusions Occupational airborne particulates are an important cause of death and disability worldwide. Am. J. Ind. Med. 48:432–445, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.