Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational exposures

Cigarette smoking is the major risk factor for COPD. However, relevant information from the literature published within the last years, either on general population samples or on workplaces, indicate that about 15% of all cases of COPD is work-related.Specific settings and agents are quoted which have been indicated or confirmed as linked to COPD. Coal miners, hard-rock miners, tunnel workers, concrete-manufacturing workers, nonmining industrial workers have been shown to be at highest risk for developing COPD.Further evidence that occupational agents are capable of inducing COPD comes from experimental studies, particularly in animal models.In conclusion, occupational exposure to dusts, chemicals, gases should be considered an established, or supported by good evidence, risk factor for developing COPD. The implications of this substantial occupational contribution to COPD must be considered in research planning, in public policy decision-making, and in clinical practice.1. Definition2. Occupational exposures and COPD: epidemiologic evidence3. Occupational exposures and COPD: experimental evidence4. Occupationally-related COPD: diagnosis5. Occupationally-related COPD: management and preventionChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease state characterized by airflow limitation that is not fully reversible. The airflow limitation is usually both progressive and associated with an abnormal inflammatory response of the lungs to noxious particles and gases [1].Many previous definitions of COPD have emphasized the terms "emphysema" and "chronic bronchitis" which are no longer included in the definition of COPD [1]. Emphysema, or destruction of the gas-exchanging surface of the lung (alveoli), is a pathological term that is often (but incorrectly) used clinically and describes only one of several structural abnormalities present in patients with COPD. Chronic bronchitis, or the presence of cough and sputum production for at least 3 months in each of two cons