title: Prevalence of asthma by industry and occupation in the U.S. working population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Workers are potentially exposed to asthmagens daily. Our study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of asthma among working adults in the U.S. by industry and occupation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001-2004), multiple logistic regression was used to investigate associations between industry and occupation and current asthma as defined by positive responses to "Has a doctor or other health professional ever told you that you have asthma?" and "Do you still have asthma?"
  
  
  RESULTS
  Workers in mining (17.0%), health-related industries (12.5%), teaching (13.1%), or in health-related occupations (12.6%) had the highest prevalence of asthma. As compared to construction industry workers, workers in mining (aOR = 5.2, 95% CI: 1.1-24.2) or health-related (aOR = 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1-4.8) industries had significantly higher odds of asthma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study adds to the increasing evidence that miners, healthcare workers and teachers remain high-risk working populations and appropriate evaluation and control measures are needed to protect these workers.
authors.affiliation: Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: McHugh
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Symanski
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Pompeii
authors.forename: George L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Delclos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003252:Construction Materials / Q000633:toxicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008906:Mining; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult