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COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Smoking remains the most important risk factor, but occupational exposures may play an essential role as well. Firefighters are among occupations regularly exposed to a variety of irritative inhalat...

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Autores principales: Rajnoveanu, Armand-Gabriel, Rajnoveanu, Ruxandra-Mioara, Motoc, Nicoleta Stefania, Postolache, Paraschiva, Gusetu, Gabriel, Man, Milena Adina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8878660/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35208563
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58020239
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author Rajnoveanu, Armand-Gabriel
Rajnoveanu, Ruxandra-Mioara
Motoc, Nicoleta Stefania
Postolache, Paraschiva
Gusetu, Gabriel
Man, Milena Adina
author_facet Rajnoveanu, Armand-Gabriel
Rajnoveanu, Ruxandra-Mioara
Motoc, Nicoleta Stefania
Postolache, Paraschiva
Gusetu, Gabriel
Man, Milena Adina
author_sort Rajnoveanu, Armand-Gabriel
collection PubMed
description Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Smoking remains the most important risk factor, but occupational exposures may play an essential role as well. Firefighters are among occupations regularly exposed to a variety of irritative inhalational products, and they may be expected to develop respiratory health problems because of such an occupational exposure. To better understand and characterize this relationship, we performed an extensive search of the scientific literature, and we identified two major research areas: firefighters exposed to wildland fire smoke and firefighters involved in the World Trade Centre disaster-related operations. Most of the studies did not report a significant increase in COPD diagnosis in firefighters. An accelerated rate of decline in lung function was seen, a short time after major exposure events. This is the reason for an increased rate of exacerbations observed in individuals already diagnosed with obstructive respiratory disorders. A limited number of studies not covering these specific circumstances of exposure were found. They reported long-term morbidity and mortality data, and the results are controversial. Major confounding factors for most of the studies were the “healthy worker effect” and the lack of useful data regarding smoking habits. Efforts should be made in the future to better characterize specific biomarkers for the progression of COPD; to establish exposure limits; and to implement preventive strategies like rotation of workers, smoking cessation programs, and long-term monitoring programs for respiratory disorders.
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spelling pubmed-88786602022-02-26 COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder Rajnoveanu, Armand-Gabriel Rajnoveanu, Ruxandra-Mioara Motoc, Nicoleta Stefania Postolache, Paraschiva Gusetu, Gabriel Man, Milena Adina Medicina (Kaunas) Review Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Smoking remains the most important risk factor, but occupational exposures may play an essential role as well. Firefighters are among occupations regularly exposed to a variety of irritative inhalational products, and they may be expected to develop respiratory health problems because of such an occupational exposure. To better understand and characterize this relationship, we performed an extensive search of the scientific literature, and we identified two major research areas: firefighters exposed to wildland fire smoke and firefighters involved in the World Trade Centre disaster-related operations. Most of the studies did not report a significant increase in COPD diagnosis in firefighters. An accelerated rate of decline in lung function was seen, a short time after major exposure events. This is the reason for an increased rate of exacerbations observed in individuals already diagnosed with obstructive respiratory disorders. A limited number of studies not covering these specific circumstances of exposure were found. They reported long-term morbidity and mortality data, and the results are controversial. Major confounding factors for most of the studies were the “healthy worker effect” and the lack of useful data regarding smoking habits. Efforts should be made in the future to better characterize specific biomarkers for the progression of COPD; to establish exposure limits; and to implement preventive strategies like rotation of workers, smoking cessation programs, and long-term monitoring programs for respiratory disorders. MDPI 2022-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC8878660/ /pubmed/35208563 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58020239 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Rajnoveanu, Armand-Gabriel
Rajnoveanu, Ruxandra-Mioara
Motoc, Nicoleta Stefania
Postolache, Paraschiva
Gusetu, Gabriel
Man, Milena Adina
COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder
title COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder
title_full COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder
title_fullStr COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder
title_full_unstemmed COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder
title_short COPD in Firefighters: A Specific Event-Related Condition Rather than a Common Occupational Respiratory Disorder
title_sort copd in firefighters: a specific event-related condition rather than a common occupational respiratory disorder
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8878660/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35208563
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina58020239
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