Immuno-Epidemiology of Crab-Induced Occupational Allergies

摘要

The report concerned an epidemiological study which compared the prevalence ofoccupational allergic diseases and other conditions between current and former employees in the crab processing industry to identify possible determinants of selective migration out of the workforce. Former workers were significantly younger, less productive and more likely to live a greater distance from the processing facilities than current workers. Lower respiratory symptoms, including asthma, were associated with employment status, but lacked precision in the multivariate model. These findings suggested that women leaving the crab processing industry were more likely to have allergic symptoms and hypersensitivity to crab than women remaining employed. However, nonspecific reactivity, as demonstrated by saline/glycerin and histamine skin test results, proved to be a stronger predictor of employment status. The authors conclude that selective migration out of the workforce of crab processors is a complex phenomenon associated with a variety of symptoms, immunological markers and sociodemographic variables.