Abstract
AIM
To analyse for occupational COPD among never smokers aged 45-84 in the cross-sectional North Jutland COPD Prevention Study.
METHOD
The subjects were recruited from 155 general practitioners from two Danish counties in 2004-06. The never smokers accounted for 33% of the age and sex stratified sampling, and 1577 never smokers were recruited. Two were excluded due to prior lung cancer. COPD was defined as FEV1/ FVC z-score <2.5 standard deviations and FEV1 z-score <2. Smoking habits and occupational history was obtained by questionnaire. The Danish version of The International Standard Classification of Occupations (DISCO-88) and expert derived assessment was used to select jobs with exposure to vapour, gas, dust (organic and inorganic), and fume (VGDF). Exposures were dichotomised as ever or never exposed subjects.
RESULTS
Of 372 DISCO-88 codes 72 were identified with VGDF exposure. Occupational exposure to VGDF were stated in 42% (n=658) in between 1 and 5 jobs. Organic dust exposure was the dominating exposure (86%). COPD was present in 26 subjects, with a study prevalence of 1.7%. Increased risk of COPD was found for subjects exposed to VGDF OR 2.41 (95% CI 1.02-5.72), but not significant among solely organic dust exposure OR 2.15 (95% CI 0.88-5.21), p=0.09. Excluding 145 never smokers with prior self-reported asthma decreased the VGDF association to insignificance OR 1.53 (95% CI 0.46-5.04).
CONCLUSION
The risk for COPD was increased among never smokers exposed to occupational VGDF exposure.
- © 2014 ERS