Advice on asthma and work

Doctors should take into account the role of an individual’s work when examining patients suffering from asthma, according to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).

New guidance issued by the RCP says that diagnosis should involve an assessment of the impact of work on asthma sufferers. The guidance was funded by NHS Plus.

This focus follows on from recent research, which suggests once again that the condition of one in six asthma sufferers is caused — or at least aggravated — by work. The TUC had reported the same long ago in its 1995 Asthma at Work report.

Doctors have been advised by the RCP to enquire of patients, especially those working in the chemical industry, what materials they work with, as well as how their symptoms at work and elsewhere differ.

Dr Paul Nicholson, lead author of the guidelines, said that “too often work-related factors are overlooked leading to unnecessary delays in proper investigation and management”.

The RCP guidance also encourages doctors to carry out allergy tests and measure peak flow — the amount of air that a patient can exhale. Professor John Harrison, director of NHS Plus, said it was “vital that hospital doctors and respiratory specialists are assessing asthma patients for potential work-related causes”.