OCCURRENCE OF ASTHMA AND CHRONIC-BRONCHITIS AMONG FEMALE HAIRDRESSERS- A QUESTIONNAIRE STUDY

We carried out a retrospective cohort study using a self-administered questionnaire to assess the risk of hairdressers to develop asthma and chronic bronchitis. A representative sample of 4433 female hairdresse rs and an equal number of shop personnel in employment in 1980 was dra wn from the Longitudinal Census Data File of Statistics Finland. Physi cian-diagnosed asthma, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory disea ses in 1980 and 1995 were inquired about in the respiratory part of th e questionnaire. The response rate to the questionnaire was 82% for th e hairdressers was (n = 3484) and 79% for the referents (n = 3357). Th e prevalence of asthma among the hairdressers was 5.6% in 1980 and 10. 1% in 1995, and the prevalence of chronic bronchitis was 3.9% in 1980 and 5.6% in 1995. The relative risk for asthma (odds ratio [OR]: 1.7, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.3 to 2.3 in 1980; and OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.4 to 2.2 in 1995) and for chronic bronchitis (OR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.5 to 3.2 in 1980; and OR: 1.9, 95% CI: 1.4 to 2.6 in 1995) among hairdre ssers was almost twice that in the reference group. The incidence rate of asthma in 1980 through 1995 was 2.2 and of chronic bronchitis was 1.1 cases per 1000 person-years among hairdressers, whereas the rate i n the reference group was 1.3 asthma cases and 0.9 chronic bronchitis cases per 1000 person-years. The relative risk for developing asthma d uring the 15 years' observation time was 1.7 (95% CI: 1.1 to 2.5) and for chronic bronchitis was 1.2 (95% CI: 0.7 to 1.9) among hairdressers , compared with referents. Our results indicate that hairdressers are at a higher risk for developing asthma.