Characteristics of patients with work-related asthma seen in the New York State Occupational Health Clinics.

Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize the work-related asthma population seen by the New York State Occupational Health Clinic Network (OHCN) to determine which industries, occupations, and causal agents are associated with work-related asthma in New York State (NYS).

Methods: The OHCN patient database was analyzed to identify those patients with a diagnosis of work-related asthma and medical charts were then abstracted for data on demographics, clinical history, disease severity, industry, occupation, and putative agent.

Results: The OHCN patients with work-related asthma were most commonly employed in the service and manufacturing industries.

A simple and inexpensive method for determining the effective ventilation rate in a negatively pressurized room using airborne particles as a tracer.

The ventilation rate within a negatively pressurized room is usually determined by measuring the exhaust air flow rate. This method does not account for air mixing factors and gives limited information on ventilation efficiency within the room. Effective ventilation rates have been determined using tracer gases such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).