title: Patient-physician communication about work-related asthma: what we do and do not know.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Effective patient-physician communication is the key component of the patient-physician relationship.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the proportion of ever-employed adults with current asthma who talked about asthma associated with work with their physician or other health professional and to identify factors associated with this communication.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 2006 to 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Asthma Call-Back Survey data from 40 states and the District of Columbia for ever-employed adults (≥18 years old) with current asthma (N = 50,433) were examined. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with communication with a health professional about asthma and work.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among ever-employed adults with current asthma, 9.1% were ever told by a physician that their asthma was related to any job they ever had and 11.7% ever told a physician or other health professional that this was the case. When responses to the 2 questions were combined, the proportion of those who communicated with a health professional about asthma and work was 14.7%. Communication with a health professional about asthma and work was associated with age, race or ethnicity, employment, education, income, insurance, and urgent treatment for worsening asthma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A small proportion of patients with asthma might communicate with a health professional about asthma associated with work. Future studies should examine whether patients with asthma ever discussed with a health professional the possibility that their asthma might be related to work to provide information on the frequency of patient-clinician communication about asthma related to work.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, West Virginia. Electronic address: JMazurek1@cdc.gov.
authors.forename: Jacek M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mazurek
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Gretchen E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Jeanne E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Moorman
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morgantown, West Virginia.
authors.forename: Eileen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Storey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059366:Asthma, Occupational / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003625:Data Collection; D030881:Disclosure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult