Incidence of asthma among aluminum workers.
Exposures to respiratory irritants encountered in aluminum smelters in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand have been suggested as the cause of "potroom asthma." However, there remains disagreement in North America regarding the existence of this entity. This study was designed to assess whether asthma occurs excessively among potroom workers and if so, delineate dose-response relationships for possible causal risk factors. The asthma incidence ratio between potroom and nonpotroom workers after adjusting for smoking was 1.40. Although bivariate analyses showed a relationship between asthma incidence and exposure to total fluoride, gaseous fluoride, particulate fluoride, sulfur dioxide, and smoking, only the effects of gaseous fluoride (relative risk [RR] = 5.1) and smoking (RR = 7.7) remained significant in a multivariate model. Potroom asthma appears to occur at the studied U.S. aluminum smelters at doses within regulatory guidelines.
Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA. Oyebode.taiwo@yale.edu
Oyebode A
OA
Taiwo
Kanta D
KD
Sircar
Martin D
MD
Slade
Linda F
LF
Cantley
Sally J
SJ
Vegso
Peter M
PM
Rabinowitz
Martha G
MG
Fiellin
Mark R
MR
Cullen
D000328:Adult; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000535:Aluminum; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D003033:Coal Tar / Q000009:adverse effects; D005459:Fluorides / Q000009:adverse effects; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008669:Metallurgy; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009790:Occupations; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000009:adverse effects; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide; D003033:Coal Tar; D000535:Aluminum; D005459:Fluorides