Diagnosis of Occupational Asthma in Flour Mills at South Cairo

Introduction: Occupational asthma is an international problem affecting largenumber of
workers. Few studies were done on occupational asthma in Egypt focusing mainly on asthma
symptoms and not on spirometric tests.Objective: The present study investigated the presence
of occupational asthma (BA) among workers at flour mills of south Cairo as there was a lack
of data. Methods: The participants (n=120) were recruited from flour mills at South Cairo. A
questionnaire, clinical examination, chest x-ray,spirometry, bronchodilator test andpeak flow
rate variabilitytest were done. Occupational asthma was diagnosed according to GINA
guidelines. Results: This study showed that 25% of mills workers had asthma related to
work.The asthma symptoms appearduring work which showed improvement after leaving
workplace. It showed also reversibility in FEV1,PEFR as well as diurnal PEFR variability
characteristics of occupational asthma. It revealed also that asthmatic workers had lower level
of spirometric parameters in relation to non-asthmatic. Conclusion: Asthma questionnaire
followed by ventilatory function test assessing reversibility and variability can be used for
early diagnosis of occupational asthma in Egypt.