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KMID : 0381320010400010001
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Korean Journal of Occupational Health
2001 Volume.40 No. 1 p.1 ~ p.8
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Occupation Asthma in Korea
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Abstract
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Occupational asthma is the most common farm of occupational lung disease in the developed world. The population attributable risk of asthma due to occupational exposures is considerable. In this review, the epidemiology, the current status in Korea, pathogenesis/mecharrisms, clinical presentations, longterm prognosis, and prevention of occupational asthma are discussed.
More than 300 hundred occupational allergens have been reported. In Korea, most important allergens are isocyanate, reactive dyes and spider mites. Current understanding of
the mechanisms by which many agents cause occupational asthma is limited. High molecular weight (eg, grxndust, flour) and some low molecular ;weight sensitizers (eg, acid anhydrides) have been shown to induce occupational asthma through an imrnunoglobulin E (IgE)-dependent mechanism, while cell-dependent immunologic mechanisms are likely to be more relevant for occupational asthma induced by other low molecular weight sensitizers (eg, toluene dusocyanate and westem red cedar). The pathology of the airway mucosa of occupational asthma is remarkably similar to the pathology of nonoccupational asthma The diagnosis of occupational asthma is generally established on the basis of a suggestive history of a temporal association between exposure and the onset of symptoms and objective evidence that these symptoms are related to airflow limitation, such as PEER moniro ing or allergen provocation test. The prognosis of occupational asthma is determined by many factors. Occupational asthma may have complete resolution or may persist for years following its initial presentation Early diagnosis and elimination of exposure to the responsible agent, may play important roles in the prevention of long-term persistence of asthma.
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KEYWORD
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