Exposure-response relationships for work-related sensitization in workers exposed to rat urinary allergens: Results from a pooled study☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Population
The study population came from laboratory animal facilities in Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Swedish laboratory animal workers (n = 38) came from an earlier study among students from laboratory technician training schools with exposure for more than 5 months at follow-up,2 and another 90 Swedish subjects came from a cross-sectional study in university facilities.10 Dutch laboratory animal workers came from a cross-sectional study among laboratory animal workers in 4
RESULTS
Basic characteristics of the 3 populations of laboratory animal workers are given in Table I.Empty Cell Sweden (n = 74) The Netherlands (n = 219) United Kingdom (n = 357) Age (y) 32.0 (11.6) 28.5 (6.8) 27.5 (9.7) Smokers (%) 16 (21.6) 55 (25.1) 91 (25.5) Exsmokers (%) 13 (17.6) 36 (16.4) 44 (12.3) General respiratory symptoms Asthma (%) 7 (9.5) 21 (9.6) 32 (9.0) Rhinitis (%) 15 (20.3) 58 (26.5) 81 (22.7) Cough (%) 3 (4.1) 13 (5.9) 25 (7.0) Phlegm (%) 3 (4.1) 13 (5.9) 20
DISCUSSION
In this study we observed clear exposure-response relationships for RUA exposure and specific IgE antibodies against laboratory rats. The risk for development of sensitization was clearly increased in atopic workers compared with nonatopic workers. The hours worked with conscious rats and the product of hours worked with conscious rats and exposure level gave the best discrimination between workers with and without anti-RUA sensitization.
Similar results were obtained when the job with the
Acknowledgements
We thank Prof A. Newman Taylor for helpful discussions during preparation of the manuscript.
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Funded in part by the European Community (contract #BMH1-CT94-1446; data pooling and serology) and by the Netherlands Organization for Research (statistical analyses).
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Reprint requests: Dick Heederik, PhD, Department of Environmental Sciences, Environmental and Occupational Health Group, Wageningen University and Research Center, PO Box 238, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands.
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