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Occupational asthma in the aluminum smelters of Australia and New Zealand: 1991–2006
Author(s) -
Donoghue A. Michael,
Frisch Neale,
Ison Michael,
Walpole Gerry,
Capil Ron,
Curl Clive,
Di Corleto Ross,
Hanna Bill,
Robson Raewyn,
Viljoen Deon
Publication year - 2011
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.20925
Subject(s) - occupational asthma , medicine , incidence (geometry) , asthma , aluminium smelting , environmental health , occupational medicine , occupational exposure , demography , smelting , metallurgy , physics , materials science , sociology , optics
Objective To examine the incidence of occupational asthma in the seven aluminum smelters of Australia and New Zealand from 1991 to 2006. Methods Incidence and exposure data were collected by survey from the smelters prospectively during the study period. Results The incidence of occupational asthma across all smelters combined was highest in 1992 at 9.46/1,000/year, declining to 0.36/1,000/year in 2006; a 96.2% reduction. The incidence of occupational asthma was correlated with geometric mean total fluoride concentration, measured as personal samples from employees undertaking anode changing (r s = 0.497, P < 0.001). Conclusions The control of exposures, respiratory protection and pre‐placement medical assessments undertaken during the study period seem to have contributed to the substantial decline in occupational asthma incidence. Am. J. Ind. Med. 54:224–231, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.