Occupational exposure to cleaning products and asthma in hospital workers

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Cleaning products may cause work-related asthma, but information regarding the specific exposures involved is scarce. We aimed to determine the associations between asthma and occupational exposure to cleaning agents in hospital workers. METHODS: Analyses were conducted in 179 (136 women) hospital workers and a reference population of 545 subjects (18-79 years) from the French case-control and familial Epidemiological study on the Genetics and Environment of Asthma (2003-2007). Exposures to cleaning agents were estimated using three methods: self-report, expert assessment and an asthma-specific job-exposure matrix (JEM). Associations between cleaning products and current asthma were evaluated by logistic regressions, stratified by sex and adjusted for age and smoking status. RESULTS: According to expert assessment, 55% of male and 81% of female hospital workers were exposed to cleaning/disinfecting tasks weekly (p