[Occupational asthma: Clinical and professional profile of the Tunisian asthmatic worker].

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.