Department of Occupational Medicine, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Tampere, Finland.
Department of Occupational Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
BMJ Open. 2019 Jun 25;9(6):e026485. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026485.
Moisture damage (MD) exposure at work has been shown to increase the risk of new onset asthma and exacerbation of asthma. However, most of the studies in this field have been questionnaire studies. A small proportion of MD-exposed workers are diagnosed with asthma. Many patients with MD exposure at work referred to secondary healthcare report intermittent hoarseness, loss of voice or difficulty to inhale, referring to functional or organic problems of the larynx. For accurate treatment, proper differential diagnostics is paramount. We present an ongoing observational study in which we describe the prevalence of respiratory, voice and other symptoms related to MD at work in patients referred to secondary healthcare. Case-control setting will be used to evaluate the frequencies of the background factors, bronchial hyperreactivity and laryngeal findings.
The study sample consists of patients with workplace MD exposure and associated respiratory tract and/or voice symptoms referred to Tampere University Hospital. The clinical tests conducted to the study patients included comprehensive lung function tests, laboratory and skin prick tests, imaging and clinical evaluation by specialists of respiratory medicine, oto-rhino-laryngology and phoniatrics. The exposure assessment was performed by an occupational physician. The study patients filled out a questionnaire on previous illnesses and other background factors, which for comparison was also sent to 1500 Finnish-speaking people in the same hospital district randomly selected by the Finnish Population Information System. To explore how common laryngeal disorders and voice symptoms are in general, a part of the tests will be conducted to 50 asymptomatic volunteers.
The regional ethics committee of Tampere University Hospital approved the study. All study subjects gave their written informed consent, which is required also from the controls. The results will be communicated locally and internationally as conference papers and journal articles.
工作中接触潮气（MD）已被证明会增加新发哮喘和哮喘恶化的风险。然而，该领域的大多数研究都是问卷调查研究。只有一小部分 MD 暴露的工人被诊断为哮喘。许多在工作中接触 MD 的患者在到二级医疗机构就诊时报告间歇性声音嘶哑、失音或呼吸困难，这表明他们的喉存在功能或器质性问题。为了进行准确治疗，恰当的鉴别诊断至关重要。我们正在进行一项观察性研究，描述在二级医疗机构就诊的因工作接触 MD 而出现呼吸道、声音和其他相关症状的患者的患病率。将采用病例对照设计来评估背景因素、支气管高反应性和喉部发现的频率。
研究样本包括因工作场所 MD 暴露而出现呼吸道和/或声音症状并转诊到坦佩雷大学医院的患者。对研究患者进行的临床测试包括全面的肺功能测试、实验室和皮肤点刺测试、影像学检查以及呼吸医学、耳鼻喉科和语音学专家的临床评估。职业医生对暴露情况进行评估。研究患者填写了一份关于既往疾病和其他背景因素的问卷，作为对照，该问卷还被发送给由芬兰人口信息系统随机选择的同一医院区的 1500 名芬兰语使用者。为了探究喉部疾病和声音症状在一般人群中的常见程度，将对 50 名无症状志愿者进行部分测试。
坦佩雷大学医院的区域伦理委员会批准了该研究。所有研究对象均签署了书面知情同意书，对照者也需要签署。研究结果将以会议论文和期刊文章的形式在当地和国际上进行交流。
