Chest
Original ResearchCOPDImpact of Occupational Exposure on Severity of COPD
Section snippets
Study Population
Patients with COPD and/or emphysema who visited a specialized outpatient unit in a tertiary care hospital between March 2002 and January 2004 were consecutively enrolled into the study. The hospital covers an area population of 500,000, and the patients studied did not predominantly work in any particular large industry. Patients were referred to us by other doctors belonging to the primary care department or several departments of the same hospital that were not involved in the study.
Patient Characteristics and Frequencies of Exposure
A total of 194 patients (185 men, 9 women) visited the outpatient clinic during the study period. Because of the small number of women, it was decided not to include their data in the analysis. All had normal α1-antitrypsin levels. Thirteen of the patients included had emphysema without airflow obstruction. The corresponding demographic, clinical, smoking, lung function, and employment characteristics are shown in Table 1. The mean age of the patients was 66.2 years (SD, 10.7 years). Among
Discussion
This is the first patient series in which the effect of occupational exposure on the clinical and functional characteristics of COPD patients without α1-antitrypsin deficiency has been investigated. Our findings show that exposure to mineral dust, biological dust, and dust or gas and fumes was independently associated with at least one of the following variables: COPD severity; clinical symptoms; and employment status.
Exposure to mineral dust and to any dusts, gases, or fumes was associated
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