Impact of asthma on working life: an analysis of the French CONSTANCES cohort.

Objectives: Asthma has significant occupational consequences. The objective of our study was to investigate the links between asthma and the career path, taking into account gender and age at asthma onset.

Methods: Using cross-sectional data collected at inclusion in the French CONSTANCES cohort in 2013-2014, we studied the links between each career path indicator (number of job periods, total duration of employment, numbers of part-time jobs and work interruptions due to unemployment or health issues, employment status at inclusion) on the one hand, and current asthma and asthma symptom score in the last 12 months on the other hand, as reported by the participants.

Underdiagnosis of obstructive lung disease: findings from the French CONSTANCES cohort.

Background: The burden of undiagnosed obstructive lung disease (OLD) (mainly asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) is not fully established, and targets for corrective action are yet to be identified. We assessed the underdiagnosis of OLD and its determinants in France.

Methods: CONSTANCES is a French population-based cohort of adults aged 18-69 years at inception.

Occupational Exposures to Organic Solvents and Asthma Symptoms in the CONSTANCES Cohort.

Solvents are used in many workplaces and may be airway irritants but few studies have examined their association with asthma. We studied this question in CONSTANCES (cohort of 'CONSulTANts des Centres d'Examens de Santé'), a large French cohort. Current asthma and asthma symptom scores were defined by participant-reported respiratory symptoms, asthma medication or attacks, and the sum of 5 symptoms, in the past 12 months, respectively.

[Prevalence of asthma among adults in France, data from the Constances cohort study].

Introduction: The objectives of our study were to estimate the prevalence of asthma in adults in France and to study the effects of gender on the associations of asthma with the corpulence and socio-economic characteristics of individuals.

Methods: We estimated the prevalence of current asthma (asthma attack in the past 12 months or current treatment for asthma) from data collected at inclusion in the Constances cohort study in 2013-2014. Analyses were performed separately in men and women, using robust Poisson regression for multivariate analysis.

[Asthma and socioeconomic characteristics in France in 2012].

Introduction: The prevalence of adult asthma is around 6-7% in France. This disease is multifactorial and is related in particular to occupational factors. Using data from The French Health, Health Care and Insurance Survey (ESPS), this study aimed to describe asthma prevalence in France according to socio-economic status in 2012.

Qualitative and Semiquantitative Assessment of Exposure to Engineered Nanomaterials within the French EpiNano Program: Inter- and Intramethod Reliability Study.

The relatively recent development of industries working with nanomaterials has created challenges for exposure assessment. In this article, we propose a relatively simple approach to assessing nanomaterial exposures for the purposes of epidemiological studies of workers in these industries. This method consists of an onsite industrial hygiene visit of facilities carried out individually and a description of workstations where nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates (NOAA) are present using a standardized tool, the Onsite technical logbook.

The impact of allergic rhinitis on the management of asthma in a working population.

Background: Currently, little data is available about the management of asthma in the working population. The aim of this study was to describe asthma control and severity among workers according to current or previous allergic rhinitis comorbidity.

Methods: A network of occupational physicians participated in this pilot study on a voluntary basis.

An extensive epidemiological investigation of a kidney cancer cluster in a chemical plant: what have we learned?

Objectives: In 2003, a cluster of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases was reported among men working at a French chemical plant using a proprietary process to produce vitamin A. The 10 index cases yielded a standardised incidence ratio of 13.1 for 1994-2002.

Attributable risk in men in two French case-control studies on mesothelioma and asbestos.

Pleural mesothelioma is a primary tumor of the pleura that is mainly due to asbestos exposure. To study the relationship between mesothelioma and occupational asbestos exposure in France, two case-control studies (A and B) were conducted. A substantial difference in the attributable risk in the population (AR(p)) was observed among men: 44.

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons influenced neither the frequency nor the spectrum of FGFR3 mutations in bladder urothelial carcinoma.

Occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is associated with an increased risk of urothelial carcinoma (UC). FGFR3 is found mutated in about 70% of Ta tumors, which represent the major group at diagnosis. The influence of PAH on FGFR3 mutations and whether it is related to the emergence or shaping of these mutations is not yet known.

Reactive airways dysfunction syndrome caused by bromochlorodifluoromethane from fire extinguishers.

Although the neurological and cardiovascular effects of Freons have been extensively described, the respiratory effects have been less well documented. We report four cases of occupational asthma following accidental exposure to bromochlorodifluoromethane (Halon 1211) due to release of the contents of a fire extinguisher. All subjects developed an irritative reaction of the upper airways and lower respiratory symptoms immediately after exposure.

Asbestos exposure and radiological abnormalities among maintenance and custodian workers in buildings with friable asbestos-containing materials.

Objectives: Few studies have been carried out to evaluate the respiratory effects of asbestos exposure of custodian and maintenance workers.

Methods: By a multicentre cross-sectional study, 277 custodian and maintenance employees working in buildings with friable asbestos-containing materials and 87 unexposed subjects were studied for radiological abnormalities by use of the International Labour Office (ILO) classification of radiographs of pneumoconiosis, in relation to parameters of asbestos exposure.

Results: The cumulative asbestos exposure index was generally low (fewer than 5 fibres/ml x years in 82.

Asbestos-related pleural diseases: dimensional criteria are not appropriate to differentiate diffuse pleural thickening from pleural plaques.

Background: In the literature, the criteria used to define pleural plaques (PP) and diffuse pleural thickening (DPT) are very heterogeneous and often imprecise. A multicenter restropective study was conducted to assess the relevance of two radiographic definitions of DPT.

Methods: The study population consisted of 287 subjects with asbestos-related pleural thickening.

Healthy worker effect and changes in respiratory symptoms and lung function in hairdressing apprentices.

Aims: To compare the prevalence and incidence of respiratory symptoms and lung function values between hairdressing apprentices and office apprentices.

Methods: A total of 322 hairdressing apprentices and 277 office apprentices (controls) were studied. Two cross sectional surveys were conducted in 1994 and 1996/97 with longitudinal follow up for a subgroup of apprentices (191 hairdressing apprentices and 189 office apprentices).

A cross-sectional study of the health effects of work schedules on 3212 hospital workers in France: implications for the new French work schedules policy.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of work schedules on the health of hospital workers at the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). Out of 40 hospitals, 17 volunteered to participate in this study. The Standard Shiftwork Index and a questionnaire concerning physicians' work schedules were used.

Reported incidence of occupational asthma in France, 1996-99: the ONAP programme.

Aims: To estimate the general and specific incidence of occupational asthma in France in 1996-99; and to describe the distribution of cases by age, sex, suspected causal agents, and occupation.

Methods: New cases of occupational asthma were collected by a national surveillance programme, based on voluntary reporting, named Observatoire National des Asthmes Professionnels (ONAP), involving a network of occupational and chest physicians. For each case, the reporting form included information on age, sex, location of workplace, occupation, suspected causal agent, and methods of diagnosis.

Estimation of the incidence of pleural mesothelioma according to death certificates in France.

Background: The number of cases of pleural mesothelioma in France has varied substantially according to methods of assessment.

Materials And Methods: We collected information from certifying physicians about 316 subjects who died between 1 July 1992 and 30 June 1993 in three regions of France with a cause of death coded as ICD-9 category 163. The ICD codes selected as the cause of death for 178 deaths between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1992 histologically confirmed and diagnosed as pleural mesothelioma by an expert committee were examined.

Detection of SV40-like DNA sequences in pleural mesothelioma, bronchopulmonary carcinoma and other pulmonary diseases.

Mesotheliomas are pleural-based tumours mainly associated with asbestos exposure (70% of cases) and the incidence is still raising. Recently, a possible viral connection was reported and 60% of mesotheliomas were demonstrated to contain and express SV40-like DNA sequences. In this study, the presence of SV40-like DNA sequences were investigated in mesotheliomas (15 tissue samples and six cell lines) and in 63 additional bronchopulmonary carcinomas, one parietal osteosarcoma and non-malignant lung samples as well as in organizing pleuritis (8).

[Rolled atelectasis and asbestosis. Apropos of 26 patients].

Round atelectasis (AE) is a benign form of respiratory problem which develops due to fixing of the visceral pleura. This lesion for which the principal cause is exposure to asbestos may pose problems of differential diagnosis with bronchopulmonary cancer. In a cohort of 286 patients suffering from benign asbestos related pleural disease the diagnosis of round atelectasis was made on computerized tomography in 26 patients (31 AE) on the following criteria: rounded opacities of less than 7 cm in diameter situated at the periphery of the lung in contact with a thickened pleura with an acute angle linking the pleura and the opacity, a reduction of lung volume on the side of the atelectasis and the presence of a "comet tail sign".

Pleural mesothelioma: dose-response relation at low levels of asbestos exposure in a French population-based case-control study.

A hospital-based case-control study of the association between past occupational exposure to asbestos and pleural mesothelioma was carried out in five regions of France. Between 1987 and 1993, 405 cases and 387 controls were interviewed. The job histories of these subjects were evaluated by a group of experts for exposure to asbestos fibers according to probability, intensity, and frequency.

SV40-like DNA sequences in pleural mesothelioma, bronchopulmonary carcinoma, and non-malignant pulmonary diseases.

Pleural and pulmonary malignancies are usually associated with well-known carcinogen exposure. Recently, the presence of simian virus 40 (SV40)-like DNA sequences has been detected in brain and bone-related human cancers and in pleural mesothelioma. In order to determine whether SV40-like DNA sequences are also present in bronchopulmonary carcinoma and non-malignant lung samples, 125 frozen pleural and pulmonary samples (including 21 mesotheliomas, 63 bronchopulmonary carcinomas, 8 other tumours, and 33 non-malignant samples) and 38 additional samples distant from tumours were studied for the occurrence of SV40-like DNA sequences by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification followed by hybridization with specific probes.

Assessment of potential damage to DNA in urine of coke oven workers: an assay of unscheduled DNA synthesis.

Objectives: A study was conducted in coke oven workers to evaluate the biological consequences of the exposure of these workers, particularly production of potential genotoxic factors.

Methods: 60 coke oven workers and 40 controls were recruited in the same iron and steel works. Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was assessed by job and measurement of 1-hydroxypyrene (1OHP) in urine samples.

[Predictive factors of physical disability in a cohort of retired persons in Paris followed during 10 years].

Objective: The objective of the present study was to examine predictors of physical disability in a survey of retired men and women living in the Paris area followed-up longitudinally for 10 years.

Methods: Subjects were randomly selected in a supplementary retirement pension fund. In all 627 subjects took part in the first phase of the survey (1982-83) and 392 in the follow-up phase (1992-93).