Dusty links

摘要

Occupational exposure does play a "causal role" in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a team of scientists have concluded after analysing the evidence from the most reliable research on the topic. And as occupational exposure increases, so does the rate of COPD, they say. The scientists found a strong and consistent association between COPD and occupational exposures from different fumes, gas, dust and vapours across many industrial sectors. The association was found in 22 of the 25 population-based studies they looked at, 12 of 15 studies with mineral dust/inorganic dust exposure and 17 out of 19 studies on organic exposure.