| Disease/Syndrome |
Pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive |
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| Category |
Airway Disease |
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| Acute/Chronic |
Chronic |
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| Synonyms |
Bronchitis, chronic; Emphysema; COPD |
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| Biomedical References |
Search PubMed |
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| Comments |
Chronic bronchitis is defined by symptoms of a productive cough 3 months out of the year for at least 2 consecutive years. Causes include chronic or repeated exposures to silica, coal, grain, cotton, wood, or asbestos dusts; also to welding fumes, firefighting, and dusts in livestock confinement buildings. The length of exposure necessary to cause chronic bronchitis is probably years or decades, not days or months. [Rosenstock, p. 322-5] Chronic bronchitis has been described in boiler cleaners exposed to vanadium pentoxide. [ACGIH] "Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive" is defined as, "A disease of chronic diffuse irreversible airflow obstruction." Subcategories of COPD include chronic bronchitis and emphysema. [National Library of Medicine MeSH Database] "Occupational exposures are also associated with increased risk for accelerated loss of lung function, although the effect is usually small compared to the effect of cigarette smoking." [Murray, p. 1126] "Most of the studies summarized throughout this chapter have reported statistically significant reductions in airflow rates among groups of exposed workers compared to nonexposed workers. Symptoms of cough, phlegm, and wheezing are variable reported to be increased or not increased. The relevance of these findings with respect to disability and clinical outcome is strongly debated." [Harber, p. 447]"Evidence of chronic airflow obstruction in relation to measures of welding exposure has been seen in most but not all studies designed to investigate this outcome. . . . Functional changes appeared to be reversible only among those welders who were consistently using local exhaust ventilation." [Asthma in the Workplace, p. 694-5]"The biological plausibility of the capacity of occupational exposures to irritating dusts, gases, and fumes to cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is high. Epidemiological evidence from both worker cohort and community studies supports an increased risk of COPD associated with such exposures. The occupational contribution to the burden of COPD is sufficiently great that preventive interventions are warranted." [Balmes JR. Occupational contribution to the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. J Occup Environ Med. 2005 Feb;47(2):154-60] |
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| Latency/Incubation |
Years or decades; |
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| Diagnostic |
History; Pulmonary function testing; Chest x-ray; |
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| ICD-9 Code |
491.2 |
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| Reference Link |
Occupational contribution to the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease |
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| Related Information in Haz-Map |
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| Symptoms/Findings |
Symptoms/Findings associated with this disease:
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| Job Tasks |
High risk job tasks associated with this disease:
- Arc weld aluminum
- Arc weld stainless steel
- Before 1975, mixed, sprayed, or sanded asbestos-containing materials
- Blast, drill, remove, or crush rock, concrete or brick
- Clean, repair, or dismantle oil-fired furnaces or boilers
- Extract coal
- Generate grain dust
- Grind or cut tiles, stones, concrete, bricks, or terrazzo
- Inhale dust in livestock confinement building
- Installed insulation before 1975
- Load or dump dusty rock, stone, or sand
- Machine wood and inhale dust
- Make products from silica powder/stone or other fibrogenic minerals
- Produced rubber with long-term exposure to high concentrations of curing fumes
- Remove insulation installed before 1975
- Repeatedly prepare, card, or spin natural vegetable fibers
- Use abrasives containing silica or silicon carbide
- Weld mild steel
- Work in potroom at aluminum smelter
- Work in tunnel construction for years with heavy exposure to NO2 (blasting & diesel exhaust)
- Worked in foundry for years with heavy exposure to gases/fumes and mineral dust
- Worked in pulp and paper mill for years with repeated heavy exposures to irritating gases
- Worked in smelter for years with heavy exposures to sulfur dioxide and metal fumes
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| Agents |
Hazardous agents that cause the occupational disease:
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