Abstract
AIMS: To assess the route to secondary care for patients with possible occupational asthma, and to document the duration of workrelated symptoms and referral times.
METHODS: Consecutive patients with suspected occupational asthma were recruited to a case series from six secondary care clinics with an interest in occupational asthma. Semi-structured interviews were performed and hospital case notes were reviewed to summarise relevant investigations and diagnosis.
RESULTS: 97 patients were recruited, with a mean age of 44.2 years (range 24-64), 51 of whom (53%) had occupational asthma confirmed as a diagnosis. Most (96%) had consulted their general practitioner (GP) at least once with work-related respiratory symptoms, although these had been present for a mean of 44.6 months (range 0-320 months) on presentation to secondary care. Patients experienced a mean delay for assessment in secondary care of 4 years (range 1-27 years) following presentation in primary care.
CONCLUSIONS: Significant diagnostic delay currently occurs for patients with occupational asthma in the UK.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 304-10 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Primary Care Respiratory Journal |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2007 |
Keywords
- Adult
- Asthma/diagnosis
- Female
- Humans
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Occupational Diseases/diagnosis
- Referral and Consultation/statistics & numerical data
- Time Factors
