Assessing occupational disability from asthma.

Asthma is receiving increased attention as a cause of occupational disability, both by virtue of occupational causation and by interactions between work and pre-existing asthma. Reasons for the failure of pneumoconiosis-related disability evaluation systems to be applicable to asthma are discussed, including the inherent variability of asthma, its responsiveness to treatment, and its variable time course with respect to occupational exacerbation. A distinction is made between the trait of airway hyperresponsiveness and the disease of asthma. A scheme for organizing reports about asthma-related disability clearly specifies the questions that need to be addressed.