Work-related rhinitis – Is it always an occupational disease?

摘要

Rhinitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the upper respiratory tract, characterized by a high prevalence and a complex pathogenesis.Work-related rhinitis (WRR) can be divided into occupational rhinitis (OR) and work-exacerbated rhinitis (WER). Itis not only considered as a disease entity but also in the context of medical certification as the allergic disease associated withoccupational exposure. Epidemiology of work-related rhinitis has been found to vary depending on the occupation and specificexposure, on the other hand the prevalence data may be underestimated due to the lack of uniform diagnostic criteria. This paperreviews the issues comprising the pathogenesis, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of patients with work-related rhinitis. Italso discusses the significance of the disease in occupational medicine, particularly in terms of preventive worker care, generalprinciples of good practice in primary and secondary WRR prevention and the necessary directions of changes in medical certificationin the cases of occupational rhinitis. Med Pr 2016;67(6):801–815