Who is most likely to suffer from asthma?

Scandinavian scientists have been conducting a large-scale study for twenty years, the purpose of which was to determine the connection between such a disease as bronchial asthma and the work specialty of patients. The number of people who suffer from this disease increases every year and researchers have suggested that some professions can contribute to the development of asthma and even lead to the accelerated development of the chronic form of the disease.

The study consisted of the fact that about 12,000 people living in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries were closely monitored by medical scientists from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) for twenty years. The doctors initially selected healthy people who had no predisposition to asthma. In 1980, the experiment was launched, and 20 years later, scientists began an in-depth analysis of the data that was provided in the questionnaires. The main goal was to determine the connection between the profession chosen by the test subjects and the diseases acquired over 20 years, in particular, bronchial asthma.

Asthma is an acute chronic disease affecting the respiratory tract. It is often accompanied by allergic attacks. The main symptoms of asthma are: a strong cough in the absence of colds, short-term attacks of suffocation, shortness of breath, resulting in a feeling of constantly interrupted speech. After minimal physical exertion, asthmatics suffer from wheezing and a strong cough.

Of the thirteen thousand men and women who were examined at the end of 20 years, more than four hundred were found to have asthma. After receiving the results, the scientists found out the specifics of the work that the patients had been doing over the past twenty years. The results showed that for 7% of women, the cause of asthma was the conditions at the workplace, and for men, the figure dropped to 4%.

People with allergies are most susceptible to asthma, they are in a special risk group. If we talk about the causes of the disease, one of the most important is the conditions at the workplace. The study showed that people who, due to work, were associated with harmful chemicals or fumes, were more likely than others to become ill.

An important point is that people do not always imagine the possible consequences when choosing a profession. The authors of the study claim that such results could have been avoided by providing advance notices about the harmfulness of the drugs that they work with. This would have allowed them to weed out workers who are allergic to certain substances, and also to make it clear to everyone else that the chosen profession involves risks.

People who work in construction are at the highest risk of developing asthma. Painters, plasterers, cleaners: they have to deal with paints, varnishes, various detergents that contain harmful chemicals every day. Among the "women's" professions, the most dangerous is the profession of a hairdresser or cosmetologist: they have to breathe in fumes from hair dyes, professional cosmetics, and nail polishes every day.