NIOSH Program Portfolio : Respiratory Diseases

NIOSH Programs > Respiratory Diseases

Respiratory Diseases

Work related respiratory diseases and disorders include a wide range of adverse medical outcomes arising from inhalation of airborne exposures at the workplace. These outcomes can range in severity from mild, chronic disorders to those that are immediately fatal. Too frequently they involve outcomes that result in disability or premature death.

Adverse Respiratory Outcomes

Adverse health outcomes include diseases of the nose and sinuses, such as allergic rhinitis; diseases of the conducting airways, such as asthma , chronic bronchitis , byssinosis, bronchiolitis and bronchiolitis obliterans , diseases of the pulmonary parenchyma, such as coal worker's pneumoconiosis , silicosis , asbestosis , hypersensitivity pneumonitis , and other fibrosing processes (e.g., berylliosis ); occupationally-transmitted respiratory infections such as tuberculosis ; and other processes that affect the respiratory system.

Occupational Exposures

Occupational exposures can be encountered in various settings, ranging from acute overexposures to long-term low-level inhalation. They include a broad range of organic and inorganic aerosols, mineral dusts, metal dusts, fibers , bioaerosols, fungal aerosols, infectious agents, vapors, fumes , and gases.

Mission Statement

The Vision of the Respiratory Diseases Research Program is to deliver the Nation's Promise: Respiratory Health and Safety at work for all people through research and prevention. The Mission is to provide National and International leadership for the prevention of work-related respiratory diseases. The Respiratory Diseases Research Program uses a scientific approach to gather and synthesize information, create knowledge, provide recommendations and deliver products and services to those who can effect prevention.

Strategic Plan

The strategic goal of the Respiratory Diseases Research Program is to reduce and/or eliminate work related respiratory diseases.
Inputs come from Stakeholders, surveillance data, health hazard evaluations, recognition of work related respiratory problems, and federal mandates.
Activities
- Disease and hazard identification, recognition, and measurement (through surveillance [see also WoRLD report ], Health Hazards Evaluations (HHEs), external reporting, and internal examination of the literature).
- Disease assessment (through field studies and laboratory studies), and in relation to hazard exposure.
- Disease prevention (through HHEs, dissemination, collaboration, intervention, control measures, secondary prevention)
- Development of tools and collaborations (leverage)
- Disease and hazard evaluation (self assessment - through surveillance)
The Program outputs are peer-reviewed protocols and peer-reviewed reports, Health Hazards Evaluation reports, Alerts and training tools.
The primary customers who are served are employees and employers who act on the outputs to effect interventions in the work place, like engineering controls, that result in risk reduction and disease prevention. Secondary customers are federal, state and local governments, professional societies (American Thoracic Society), Mining Safety and Health Administration and Occupational Safety and Health Administration which can effect positive changes in the workplace through authoritative comment, regulation and rule-making.
The intermediate goals that lead to the strategic goal of respiratory disease prevention are to reduce risk factors, these include reduced exposures and reduced stressors.
The annual goals are to report research results, surveillance results and provide training and guidance.