title: Occupational asthma in a cable manufacturing company.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  During the past decade, incidence of asthma has increased, which might have been due to environmental exposures.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Considering the expansion of cable manufacturing industry in Iran, the present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of occupational asthma in a cable manufacturing company in Iran as well as its related factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted on employees of a cable manufacturing company in Yazd, Iran, in 2012. The workers were divided into two groups of exposure (to toluene diisocyanate, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene or polypropylene) and without exposure. Diagnosis of occupational asthma was made based on the subjects' medical history, spirometry and peak flowmetry, and its frequency was compared between the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of occupational asthma was 9.7%. This rate was 13.8% in the exposed group. Logistic regression analysis showed that even after adjustment for confounding factors, a significant correlation existed between the frequency of occupational asthma and exposure to the produced dust particles (P < 0.05). In addition, age, work experience, body mass index, cigarette smoking and shift work had significant correlations with the prevalence of occupational asthma (P < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Considering the high prevalence of occupational asthma among cable manufacturing company workers in Iran, this issue needs to be addressed immediately in addition to reduction of exposure among subjects. Reduction in work shift duration, implementation of tobacco control and cessation programs for the personnel, and performing spirometry tests and respiratory examinations in shorter periods may be among effective measures for reducing the incidence of occupational asthma in this industry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mirsaeed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Attarchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Faezeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dehghan
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Chronic Respiratory Disease, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Taraneh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yazdanparast
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Saber
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mahdie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golchin
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Work and Environment, Petroleum Industry Health Organization (PIHO), Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Zargham
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sadeghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moafi
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Chronic Respiratory Disease, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Mohammad
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Seyed Mehdi
keywords: Asthma; Occupational Asthma; Occupational Exposure