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Work-related asthma cases: Massachusetts SENSOR 1993 - 2002.

Raleigh-K

SENSOR Occup Lung Dis Bull 2003 Dec; :1-4

http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/occupational-health/sensor-lung-disease-bulletins/dec03.pdf

20042690

This issue of the Bulletin includes a summary of cases of work-related asthma (WRA) reported to Massachusetts SENSOR from 1993 through 2002. Although the number of cases identified by surveillance system is believed to be only a small fraction of the total number of WRA cases in the Commonwealth, the data provide important information about the industries and occupations where workers are at risk of WRA and about workplace exposures that need to be addressed. We call your attention to the fact that only 47 cases of WRA were reported by physicians in 2002. This is the lowest number of reports we received per year since we began tracking WRA in 1993. We suspect this decline is due to a decrease in reporting rather than in underlying incidence. We welcome your thoughts about this and recommendations for improving case reporting. In the meantime, we are proceeding with new initiatives to improve surveillance by working with pharmacists and community health centers and making use of the new statewide emergency department data set.

Occupational-health; Work-environment; Workers; Occupational-exposure; Respiratory-system-disorders; Pulmonary-system-disorders; Bronchial-asthma; Surveillance-programs; Health-hazards; Worker-health; Occupational-diseases; Disease-prevention; Employee-exposure; Physicians; Pharmacists

Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, 250 Washington Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02108

20031201

Other

Cooperative Agreement

2004

Cooperative-Agreement-Number-U60-CCU-103010

SENSOR Occupational Lung Disease Bulletin

MA

Massachusetts State Department of Public Health