Correspondence on "Association between occupational exposure to irritant agents and a distinct asthma endotype in adults" by Andrianjafimasy et al

This study of endotypes responsible for the development of irritant induced occupational asthma raises questions as to what is meant by a respiratory irritant.1 Classifying an exposure as irritant usually implies that the effect is non-specific, that is, all similar asthmatics would react to the exposure whether they have had previous exposure to the agent or not. For instance, sulphur dioxide is a respiratory irritant, the exposure needed to provoke asthma is correlated with the degree of preexisting non-specific reactivity, as measured with methacholine or histamine.2 The paper by Andrianjafimasy et al1 uses a job exposure matrix (JEM) whose list of irritants includes the best known low-molecular-weight respiratory sensitisers, such as isocyanates, acrylates, epoxy resins and amines where there is no evidence of airflow obstruction in previously unexposed, or exposed asymptomatic workers induced by exposures that can cause severe reactions in sensitised individuals....
Source: Occupational and Environmental Medicine - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: PostScript Source Type: research