Reference

BOHRF Original Authors' Main Conclusions

The original authors' main conclusions are taken from Abstract, Results and Discussion. They are decided upon by the authors of the BOHRF occupational asthma guidelines and form part of the guidelines.

Four indices of laboratory animal allergy were studied: symptoms suggestive of occupational asthma, symptoms suggestive of any occupational allergy, skin wheals to animal urine extracts, and serum binding in radioallergosorbent tests with urine extracts. Pooled data from the three surveys showed an association between smoking and all indices except radioallergosorbent tests; the association was significant for symptoms of occupational asthma. One of the three surveys consistently showed a stronger association of allergy indices with smoking than with atopy (defined on skin tests with non-animal aeroallergens). Associations with smoking persisted after stratifying by atopic status, suggesting that smoking may be a risk factor for laboratory animal allergy.

The following comments are from the editors of the BOHRF occupational asthma guidelines and form part of the guidelines.

The factory where smoking was more strongly associated with allergy than atopy was new, with mean employment duration of 2.6yrs

BOHRF Associated Evidence Statements

The BOHRF occupational asthma guidelines state that this reference is associated with the following evidence statements