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CDC report says work-related asthma increased from 2009 to 2012

The percentage of ever-employed adults with current asthma that is work-related increased from 9% in 2009 to 15.7% in 2012, according to data presented in MMWR.

“These results can assist states, other government agencies, health professionals, employers, workers, and worker representatives to better target intervention and prevention efforts to reduce the burden of [work-related asthma (WRA)],” Jacek M. Mazurek, MD, of the CDC, and colleagues wrote.

Originally in 2009, the CDC used the 2006 to 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and Adult Asthma Call-back Survey data from 38 states and D.C. to estimate that the percentage of people with work-related asthma was 9%.

However, with the increase in number of households getting rid of landlines and relying solely on cellphones, the CDC conducted a new report in 2012 using both cellphone and landline responses from participants in 22 states.

The report sampled 205,755 adults (representing an estimated 137 million people) in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System and 9,893 adults (representing an estimated 18 million people) in the Adult Asthma Call-back Survey.

A total of 7,275 adults who participated in the call-back survey were ever-employed and had current asthma. Of these participants, approximately 15.7% had work-related asthma (estimated 1.9 million persons).

The estimated percentage of ever-employed adults with current asthma who had work-related asthma varied from state to state. Hawaii was estimated at 9% of ever-employed adults (n = 7,582) participating in the survey to have work-related asthma while Missouri (n = 6,754) was estimated at 23.1%.

There are some limitations to the report, according to the researchers. One of the limitations was that measures of work-related asthma were based on self-reported questionnaires over the phone rather than medical records. Also, the data is limited to participants in those 22 states.

“Therefore, the estimates are not nationally representative or representative of nonparticipating states,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald 

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.