Occupational asthma as identified by the Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Diseases programme in South Africa

Background The nationwide Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Res piratory Diseases in South Africa, SORDSA, was established in 1996 to prov; ide systematic information on occupational respiratory diseases. Objective SORDSA's objectives are to monitor the nature, extent and distrib ution bf occupational respiratory diseases, and to increase awareness of th eir diagnosis and prevention. This paper describes the programme and result s obtained for occupational asthma in the first 2 years, ending in October 1998. Methods SORDSA identifies newly diagnosed cases of occupational respiratory disease through voluntary reporting by pulmonologists, occupational medici ne doctors and occupational health nurses. Initially, recruitment of the ab ove health care providers was done through the membership infrastructure of their respective professional societies. Booklets with prescribed monthly reporting forms were distributed annually to all reporting members and a co re of reporting providers was established through a proactive method of dat a collection. Information dissemination and reporting feedback takes place through quarterly newsletters and issue-specific brochures on certain hazar dous agents. Results Over the initial 2-year period, 3285 cases of occupational respirat ory disease were reported to SORDSA by 203 doctors and 97 occupational heal th nurses. After pneumoconiosis and associated respiratory conditions, occu pational asthma was the second most commonly reported disease with 225 case s (6.9%). The average annual incidence for occupational asthma in South Afr ica was 13.1 per million employed people, with the highest incidence report ed from the Western Cape province (37.6 per million). Latex was the most fr equently reported agent for occupational asthma, followed by isocyanates an d platinum salts. Low molecular weight agents accounted for 59.6% of the ca ses of occupational asthma. Conclusion The results from this initial phase show that despite some limit ations, SORDSA has the potential to obtain useful data on the industries, a gents and occupations causing occupational asthma in South Africa.