Are we failing workers with symptoms suggestive of occupational asthma?

Aims: To assess the route to secondary care for patients with possible occupational asthma, and to document the duration of workrelated symptoms and referral times.

Methods: Consecutive patients with suspected occupational asthma were recruited to a case series from six secondary care clinics with an interest in occupational asthma. Semi-structured interviews were performed and hospital case notes were reviewed to summarise relevant investigations and diagnosis.

Occupational asthma: an assessment of diagnostic agreement between physicians.

Objectives: To investigate the levels of agreement between expert respiratory physicians when making a diagnosis of occupational asthma.

Methods: 19 cases of possible occupational asthma were identified as part of a larger national observational cohort. A case summary for each case was then circulated to 12 physicians, asking for a percentage likelihood, from the supplied information, that this case represented occupational asthma.

The perceptions of occupational health in primary care.

Aim: A random sample of general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses (PNs) and practice managers (PMs) in Sheffield and Manchester was recruited into a study to evaluate the perceptions of occupational health (OH) in primary care.

Methods: Qualitative data were collected using focus groups with three groups of primary care sector professionals. Quantitative data were collected nationally from 295 GPs using a postal questionnaire.

Variations in eosinophil chemokine responses: an investigation of CCR1 and CCR3 function, expression in atopy, and identification of a functional CCR1 promoter.

We previously showed in a small group of donors that eosinophils from a subgroup of individuals responded equipotently to CC chemokine ligand (CCL)11/eotaxin and CCL3/macrophage-inflammatory protein-1alpha in assays of eosinophil shape change (CCL3/macrophage-inflammatory protein-1alpha-highly responsive (MHR) donors). In this study, we investigated the functional role of CCL3 in eosinophil responses in 73 donors. MHR donors, identified by their eosinophil shape change responses, represented approximately 19% of the donor pool.