Skip Navigation


Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on January 2, 2009
Occupational Medicine 2009 59(4):230-236; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqn165
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
59/4/230    most recent
kqn165v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sauni, R.
Right arrow Articles by Verbeek, J.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sauni, R.
Right arrow Articles by Verbeek, J.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Audit of quality of diagnostic procedures for occupational asthma

Riitta Sauni1,2, Paula Kauppi3, Eva Helaskoski3, Pauliina Virtema1 and Jos Verbeek4

1 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Tampere, Finland
2 Clinic of Occupational Medicine, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
3 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland
4 Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Kuopio, Finland

Background Previous studies have reported deficiencies in the quality of the diagnosis of occupational asthma. A low quality of diagnostic procedures means that the occupational cause of asthma is less likely to be revealed.

Aims To assess the current quality of the diagnosis of occupational asthma before referral to a specialist occupational medicine centre.

Methods The quality of diagnostic procedures was assessed by reviewing the files of 150 patients who were referred to the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in 2003 with a suspicion of an occupational cause of their asthma. The quality indicators used were assessment of workplace exposures, spirometric studies, bronchodilator response, serial workplace measurements of peak expiratory flow (PEF) and the time since first symptoms to the final diagnosis. For each indicator, criteria to differentiate between sufficient and insufficient care were developed.

Results Exposure assessments, spirometric studies and bronchodilator responses were performed in 92, 87 and 79% of cases in the total study group, respectively. Workplace measurements of PEF had been performed in 51% of the cases, and the quality of measurements was sufficient in 52%. Workplace exposures had been assessed significantly more often in occupational health care than in other health care units. The median time from the beginning of symptoms to the final diagnosis was 3.2 years.

Conclusions Although the diagnostic procedures were mostly of sufficient quality, the performance of serial measurements of PEF at the workplace and the time to diagnosis should be substantially improved.

Keywords      Occupational asthma; occupational health services; peak expiratory flow measurements; quality of diagnosis

Correspondence to: Riitta Sauni, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, PO Box 486, 33101 Tampere, Finland. Tel: +358 30 474 8650; fax: +358 30 474 8605; e-mail: riitta.sauni{at}ttl.fi


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.