Occupational lung diseases.

Clinical evaluation of a patient with occupational lung disease requires determining the pathophysiologic process, identifying the agent that is or was responsible, determining the prognosis and level of disability, assessing how the disease can be controlled or limited, and investigating the extent to which other workers may be affected. These conditions include the pneumoconioses, toxic inhalation, occupational asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, industrial bronchitis, fume fevers and cancer. The family physician is in a good position to recognize these problems in the community.