Occupational Asthma:
BOHRF has co-funded two more pieces of research of real practical value on occupational asthma.
The first is a piece of work to evaluate the effectiveness of the BMJ e-learning system for GP CPD in improving GP behaviour. The team led by Dr Chris Barber is using the BOHRF evidence guidelines on occupational asthma as the vehicle for this exciting project. The early results are extremely encouraging. The team that wrote the evidence guidelines on occupational asthma generously agreed that the 2005 BUPA Health at Work Award could be used for this funding.
The second is to produce evidence based guidance to be used by occupational health professionals and allied colleagues in the pre-employment assessment of people with asthma. Asthma affects one in five working people in the UK. The project is being led by Dr Paul Cullinan of the National Heart and Lung Institute. This guidance should increase the probability that job applicants with asthma are employed and located more appropriately; with the expectation that they will consequently experience less work-related ill health. Guidance should also assist employers in avoiding unfair or discriminatory practice.
Occupational Asthma:
Identification, Management and Prevention: Evidence Based Review and Guidelines
This £75,000 award winning project was a key action point of the UK Occupational Asthma Board. There are over 3,500 new cases of occupational asthma each year in the UK, where it is the most frequent lung disease. It is the most common cause of occupational respiratory disease in the developed world, and the second most common globally (after pneumoconiosis). The key objectives of this project were to:
- improve the identification of occupational asthma by GP's and practice based nurses, allowing earlier intervention to substantially reduce its severity
- provide an evidence base for a more robust and effective approach to health surveillance
- enable better management of the risk of this disease
Deliverables (available in hard copy or as free downloads via the links below) include:
- a full evidence review report
- a summary of the evidence for GP's and practice-based nurses
- a summary of the evidence for employers, workers and their representatives, containing advice on medical confidentiality, worker consultation, and ‘the hierarchy of control’ in addition to summaries of relevant evidence from the review
- a summary for OH professionals of the implications of the evidence base for future professional practice and advice to clients and management
- work-related asthma & rhinitis: algorithm for case finding and management in primary care
Professor Tony Newman Taylor at the London launch
The project won the BUPA Health at Work Award for 2005. In the words of Andrew Vallance-Owen, BUPA Group Medical Director:
“A world first that tackles a major health problem in the workplace. A forward-thinking, groundbreaking project that will offer hope to hundreds of workers and change their lives.”
The launch of this project took place on 14 September 2004 at the RCGP, London and was followed by a full day conference on 22 September 2004, hosted by the Scottish Executive at the RCPS, St Vincent Street, Glasgow.
A related article Evidence based guidelines for the prevention, identification, and management of occupational asthma by P J Nicholson, P Cullinan, A J Newman Taylor, P S Burge and C Boyle has been published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine (May 05 edition).
Professor Anthony Newman Taylor is the head of the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital
Last Update: 28-Jan-2008