Determinants of health-related quality of life among residents with and without COPD in a historically industrialised area.

Purpose: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with substantial morbidity, including impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Despite the prominent role of occupational factors in the aetiology of COPD, the relationship between these exposures and HRQoL has not been well elucidated.

Methods: A subpopulation from an epidemiological study, designed to assess the workplace contribution to COPD, was administered the EQ5D HRQoL tool.

COPD causation and workplace exposures: an assessment of agreement among expert clinical raters.

Background: Although occupational exposure is a known risk factor for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), it is difficult to identify specific occupational contributors to COPD at the individual level to guide COPD prevention or for compensation. The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of how different expert clinicians attribute likely causation in COPD.

Methods: Ten COPD experts and nine occupational lung disease experts assigned occupational contribution ratings to fifteen hypothetical cases of COPD with varying combinations of occupational and smoking exposures.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and the workplace.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive respiratory disease associated with increasing morbidity and mortality worldwide. Whilst tobacco smoking is the important cause, other causes are recognized. This article discusses the contribution that harmful inhaled occupational exposures make to the overall burden of COPD, and goes on to discuss other aspects of the COPD workplace interface.