PREVALENCE OF PHYSICIAN-DIAGNOSED ASTHMA BY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPINGS INMANITOBA, CANADA

The objective of this research was to determine whether there are diff erences in the rate of physician-diagnosed asthma in various occupatio nal groups. A prevalence survey using a population-based administrativ e database of a sample of the labor force in Manitoba, Canada was used . A sample of 22,561 individuals who were in the labor force at the ti me of the 1986 census were linked to the provincial administrative hea lth database. The frequency of physician-diagnosed asthma and other ob structive respiratory conditions were measured A case of asthma was de fined as having at lease three physician contacts for asthma between A pril I, 1986, and March 31, 1990. Data on potential confounding factor s such as age, gender area of residence, income, and education were al so available. The results showed that frequency of physician-diagnosed asthma by occupational grouping ranged from a low of 0.1/100 workers to a high of 4.8/100 workers. Three occupational groups, 1) other teac hing and related occupations (SOC 279) (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.18-5.44); 2) fabricating, installing, and repairing occupations of electrical elec tronic and related equipment (SOC 853) (OR 2.37, 95% CI 1.05-5.33); an d 3) other occupations in laboring and other elemental work (SOC 992) (OR 2.51, 95% CI 1.21-5.24) were found to have elevated odds ratios fo r physician-diagnosed asthma, Datasets linking occupation and health c are utilization may be useful tools for surveillance of work-related d iseases in general, and for asthma in particular However further work should be done utilizing larger databases to determine the overall use fulness of this approach. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.