Prevalence of COPD among workers with work-related asthma

Abstract

Objective: Concurrent asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) diagnoses occur in 15%–20% of patients, and have been associated with worse health outcomes than asthma or COPD alone. Work-related asthma (WRA), asthma that is caused or made worse by exposures in the workplace, is characterized by poorly controlled asthma. The objective of this study was to assess the proportion of ever-employed adults (≥18 years) with current asthma who have been diagnosed with COPD, by WRA status.

Methods: Data from 23 137 respondents to the 2012–2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Asthma Call-back Survey from 31 states and the District of Columbia were examined. Logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted prevalence ratios (PRs), examining six disjoint categories of WRA-COPD overlap with non-WRA/no COPD as the referent category.

Results: An estimated 51.9% of adults with WRA and 25.6% of adults with non-WRA had ever been diagnosed with COPD. Adults with WRA/COPD were more likely than those with non-WRA/no COPD to have an asthma attack (PR = 1.77), urgent treatment for worsening asthma (PR = 2.85), an asthma-related emergency room visit (PR = 4.21), overnight stay in a hospital because of asthma (PR = 6.57), an activity limitation on 1–13 days (PR = 2.01) or ≥14 days (PR = 5.02), and very poorly controlled asthma (PR = 3.22).

Conclusions: COPD was more frequently diagnosed among adults with WRA than those with non-WRA, and adults diagnosed with both WRA and COPD appear to have more severe adverse asthma outcomes than those with non-WRA and no COPD.

Keywords:

• Work-related asthma
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• asthma-COPD overlap
• BRFSS
• ACBS

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System state coordinators for their assistance in collecting the data used in this analysis. The authors also thank Dr. Janet Croft, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Girija Syamlal, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).