Occupational respiratory diseases in South Africa - Results from SORDSA, 1997-1999

Objectives. To describe the nature and extent of work-related respiratory d iseases reported to the national Surveillance of Work-related and Occupatio nal Respiratory Diseases in South Africa (SORDSA) reporting scheme. The cau sative agents and industrial categories in which they occurred are also cha racterised. Design. Voluntary monthly reporting of newly diagnosed cases by pulmonologi sts, occupational medicine practitioners and occupational health nurses. Setting. Medical and occupational health referral centres in the nine provi nces of South Africa. Subjects. Cases were workers from non-mining industries or ex-miners, suffe ring from a newly diagnosed occupational respiratory disease, reported to S ORDSA between October 1996 and December 1999. Outcome measures. Frequencies of reported occupational respiratory disease by year, reporting source, province and sex. Frequencies of short- and long -latency diseases by industry and causative agent. Results. There was incomplete reporting coverage of the nine provinces in t he first 3 years. Reporting was most comprehensive from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Na tal and the Western Cafe. Diseases with long latency periods made up 76.2% of the cases. Pneumoconiosis, even in non-mining industries, was the most f requently reported disease, followed by inhalation accidents. Occupational asthma was the fourth most reported disease. Apart from the prominence of p neumocaniosis, the results obtained by SORDSA are similar to those from a B ritish occupational lung disease surveillance scheme. This study showed tha t newly diagnosed cases of occupational lung disease occurred in many indus tries and M ere caused by a variety of agents. Conclusion. SORDSA has contributed insight into the nature, extent and dist ribution of occupational respiratory diseases in South Africa. It has also highlighted important causes of occupational respiratory diseases in South Africa, as well as hazardous industries. The data indicate that South Afric a has a widespread occupational lung disease problem, and provide a platfor m for targeted prevention strategics.