Prevention of Work-related Asthma: Study Search Results

Study Details

Prevention Level	Primary
Author	Antao VC
Study Year	2011
Country	USA
Molecular Weight of Agent	N/A
Category	N/A
Agent	N/A
Occupation	World trade center rescue and recovery workers (RRW)
Outcome/Diagnosis	Respiratory symptoms and diseases
Activity Intervention	Use of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) and type of mask
Participation Rate	9,296 RRW met inclusion criteria for the study
Intervention Effectiveness	RRW who used different types of respirators were significantly less likely to report adverse respiratory outcomes compared to those who reported no respiratory protection: (OR= odds ratio, all statistically significant at p<0.05 level). Types of respirators: type 1=full facepiece; type 2=half facepiece; type 3=disposable filtering facepiece; type 4=surgical or nuisance dust masks. • For shortness of breath, OR = 0.69 and 0.79 for types 2 and 3, respectively. • For wheezing, OR = 0.69 and 0.74 for types 2 and 3, respectively. • For chronic cough, OR = 0.52, 0.73, 0.70, and 0.81 for types 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. • For upper respiratory symptoms, OR = 0.70, 0.74, and 0.85 for types 1, 2, and 4, respectively. • For asthma, OR = 0.79 for type 4. • For COPD, OR = 0.70 for type 2.