Occupational obstructive airway diseases in Germany

✍ Scribed by X. Baur; P. Degens; K. Weber

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 148 KB
• Volume: 33
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-3586
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199805)33:5<454::aid-ajim4>3.0.co;2-s

✦ Synopsis

In industrialized countries, occupational asthma caused by allergens and irritants due to workplace exposure is increasing. More than 8,000 such claims were made in Germany (10.5% of all decided occupational disease claims) in 1995; 1,900 were confirmed (6.5% of all confirmed claims).

The legal basis and the occupational disease-related regulations of trade-assigned statutory accident insurance institutions ('Berufsgenossenschaften') in Germany are described. Hitherto, three occupational disease categories for obstructive airway disorders existed: due to sensitizing agents, due to chemical-irritative or toxic agents, and due to isocyanates. Approximately 40% of accepted claims for occupational asthma and rhinitis result from exposure to flour. Ongoing changes in the recognition of work-related airway disease symptoms account for differences in the incidence and prevalence as reported over the years. Recently, chronic obstructive bronchitis and/or emphysema of hard coal miners have been included in the German list of occupational diseases.