Screening for isocyanate asthma saves money

Really a cross-sectional study at the start of a surveillance programme compared with workers diagnosed with occupational asthma presenting clinically (historical controls). Those identified by surveillance had less NSBR and recovered better than the historical controls  (2 years after removal from exposure no treatment and normal NSBR 34% vs 16%, p=0.02). They also cost the Quebec compensation scheme, which includes less (11,893 Canadian $ including retraining compared with Can $19,462 for the historical controls.

The cost comparison was the lump sum paid after 2 years by the Quebec compensation scheme based on age and residual disability. It is cheaper to identify spray painters with occupational asthma with screening than to wait for them to present clinically.

References

	Labrecque M, Malo J-L, Alaoui KM, Rabhi K, Medical surveillance programme for diisocyanate exposure , Occup Environ Med, 2011;68:302-307,

Related pages

			Isocyanates

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