Jump to full article: Medical News TODAY(UK), 2009-12-06
Author: Source British Thoracic Society
Intro: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at work, mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, was associated with a 40% increased risk of developing asthma in young adults, according to new research presented today at The British Thoracic Society Annual Winter Meeting (Friday 4th December).
The major study, conducted at Imperial College, London in collaboration with other universities and occupational experts used information on the job history of over 10,000 people born in Britain in the first week of March 1958.
They examined the link between workplace exposure to a range of different agents including ETS, and the development of asthma between the ages of 16 and 33 (i.e. during the years 1974 to1991, well before the Smoke free Premises and Enforcement Regulations 2006).
The results showed that by age 33, over a third (38%) of the 1958 cohort had worked in a job in which exposure to agents known to cause asthma was likely.
About 1 in 20 (4.8%) reported they had developed asthma between 16 and 33 years.
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