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Published on: April 8, 2022
[Occupational asthma: Clinical and professional profile of the Tunisian asthmatic worker]
S Toujani1, A Hedhli1, M Mjid1
1Service de pneumologie-allergologie, CHU La Rabta, unité de recherche 12SP06, faculté de médecine de Tunis, université de Tunis El Manar, 1007, Tunis, Tunisie.
Introduction:
Asthma takes up a great importance in occupational diseases but remains underestimated as it is insufficiently diagnosed.
Objective:
We aimed to access the clinical and professional profile of the Tunisian asthmatic worker.
Materials And Methods:
It was a retrospective descriptive study in a professional pathology unit in a university hospital. All patients referred by their doctor for symptoms suggestive of occupational asthma, during a period from 2000 to 2008, were included.
Results:
Forty-eight patients were selected from 172. The mean age was 40 years, with a male predominance (56 %). In 2/3 of the cases, it was the textile workers, food and chemical industry. The etiological agents incriminated were textile dust in 18.8 % of cases followed by isocyanates and flour. Typical episodes of wheezing dyspnea were present in 52 % and atopy in 54.2 % of workers. In 2 % of cases, symptoms disappeared and worsened in 18.8 %.
Conclusions:
The prognosis of OA depends on early end accurate diagnosis. The physician's role is to initiate the appropriate diagnostic approach, which must comply with the Tunisian conditions.
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