First months of employment and new onset of rhinitis in adolescents

¹ Institute for Occupational and Environmental Medicine Munich, Germany
² Institute for Occupational and Environmental Medicine Munich, Germany; and Dept of Epidemiology Ulm, Germany
³ Institute for Occupational and Environmental Medicine Munich, Germany; and Dr. von Haunersches Children's Hospital Munich, Germany
⁴ Dept of Epidemiology Ulm, Germany
⁵ University Children's Hospital Dresden, Germany
⁶ Dr. von Haunersches Children's Hospital Munich, Germany

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Katja.Radon{at}med.uni-muenchen.de.

	Abstract

To investigate the incidence of rhinitis in adolescents taking into account duration and kind of employment in holiday and vocational jobs, and to study latency until development of symptoms.

Participants of the ISAAC-II study in Munich and Dresden enrolled in 1995 were re-contacted by a postal questionnaire in 2002 (age 16 to 18 years). This focused on allergic rhinitis (AR), kind and duration of all jobs, and potential confounders. All jobs hold for at least 8 hours·week^-1 and at least 1 month were coded and occupational exposure was assigned by a job-exposure matrix.

Of the 3785 participants, 964 reported an employment history. The median duration of employment was 10 months (25^th; 75^th percentile: 1; 16 months). After adjusting for potential confounders, those working in high-risk occupations (OR 1.4; CI 1.0-2.1) had an increased risk for new onset of rhinitis, especially those exposed to low molecular weight agents (OR 1.78; 95% CI 1.1, 2.8). The incidence of rhinitis was the highest among those currently employed in a high-risk job for less than 10 months.

Teenagers who start working in high-risk occupations have a higher incidence of rhinitis as compared to those not working. This increased risk might occur early on during employment.

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