A validated asthma questionnaire for healthcare workers

描述(申请人提供)：职业性哮喘(OA)是目前 最常报告的与工作有关的呼吸系统疾病的诊断 发达国家。医疗工作者(HCW)，一个代表 约占美国劳动力的7%，属于 有患骨质疏松症风险的职业群体，有报告说 发生哮喘的护士、动物饲养员、呼吸治疗师、 医生和药品制造商等。相对较少 关于哮喘的正式确认的信息已经发表。 问卷调查，到目前为止，验证主要集中在 用于预测人群哮喘的问卷调查项目。为了使用 问卷调查哮喘与职业性哮喘的关系 对于非职业性接触，获得的信息也很重要 在这些曝光上是可靠和有效的。尽管存在多份调查问卷 对于工作场所哮喘的评估，很少有人经过正式的， 深入验证。鉴于哮喘作为一种疾病日益重要 职业病，显然需要更好和更可靠的， 允许在不同地区检测哮喘的标准化调查工具 工作人口及其与潜力相关的特征 致病因素和诱因。我们建议开发、验证和现场测试一个 新的卫生工作者职业性哮喘调查工具，允许 评估可能导致的职业和非职业接触 与工作相关的哮喘的发展。这项为期3年的研究将在 分两个阶段。第一阶段的具体目标将是开发和验证新的 职业性哮喘测量仪器，用于医疗保健环境。这个 调查问卷将通过将其管理到以下方便的样本进行验证 100名医务工作者(有哮喘和无哮喘)，并将结果与“黄金”进行比较 哮喘标准“(乙酰甲胆碱支气管激发试验)和 非职业性接触危险因素(RAST IgE特异性抗体小组 对抗常见的环境空气过敏原和乳胶)。职业性暴露 将通过两种不同的方法确定：a)工作暴露矩阵(JEM) 之前由NIOSH开发用于医疗保健设置，并进行了修改以 特别关注哮喘患者，以及b)自我报告的暴露情况，与 并辅之以工业卫生师专家评审。先验论发展了 将通过对区域的一系列工作场所访问来验证和更新JEM 医院。第二阶段的具体目标是：1)交叉验证和实地考察 在四个以总体为基础的样本中测试新的调查工具 卫生工作者(护士、医生、呼吸系统)职业组(每组1400人) 治疗师和职业治疗师)，通过各自的 德克萨斯州的执照委员会；2)估计和比较 四个职业组中与工作相关的哮喘，3)分析 卫生工作者职业性接触与非职业性接触的关系 在这个非典型肺炎中有无哮喘，以及4)估计 这四个职业组的哮喘负担情况。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Occupational asthma (OA) is currently the most frequently reported diagnosis of work-related respiratory disease in developed nations. Healthcare workers (HCWs), a sector representing approximately 7 percent of the U.S. workforce, are among some of the occupational groups at risk of development of OA, with reports of increased occurrence of asthma in nurses, animal handlers, respiratory therapists, physicians, and manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, among others. Relatively few studies have been published with information on formal validation of asthma questionnaires, and validation to date has largely focused on the ability of questionnaire items to predict asthma in populations. In order to use questionnaires to study associations between asthma and occupational and non-occupational exposures, it is also essential that the information obtained on these exposures be reliable and valid. Although several questionnaires exist for the evaluation of asthma in the workplace, very few have undergone formal, in-depth validation. Given the increasing importance of asthma as an occupational disease, there is a clear need for better and more reliable, standardized survey instruments that allow the detection of asthma in different working populations, and its characterization in relation to potential etiologic agents and triggers. We propose to develop, validate and field test a new survey instrument for work-related asthma among HCWs, which permits the assessment of occupational and non-occupational exposures that may result in the development of work-related asthma. This 3-year study will be conducted in two phases. The specific aim of Phase I will be to develop and validate a new survey instrument of work- related asthma, for use in healthcare settings. The questionnaire will be validated by administering it to a convenience sample of 100 HCWs (both with and without asthma), and comparing results to "gold standards" for asthma (methacholine bronchial challenge test) and non-occupational exposures risk factors (RAST IgE-specific antibody panel against common environmental aeroallergens and latex). Occupational exposures will be determined by two separate methods: a) a job-exposure matrix (JEM) previously developed by NIOSH for use in healthcare settings, and modified to focus specifically on asthmagens, and b) self-reported exposures, compared to and supplemented by expert industrial hygienist review. The apriori developed JEM will be validated and updated through a series of workplace visits to area hospitals. The specific aims of Phase 2 will be to: 1) cross-validate and field test the new survey instrument in a population-based sample of four occupational groups (nl400 per group) of HCWs (nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, and occupational therapists), identified through their respective licensing boards in Texas; 2) estimate and compare the prevalence of work-related asthma among these four occupational groups,3) analyze associations between occupational and non-occupational exposures among HCWs with and without asthma in this nonulation and 4) estimate the occunational burden of asthma in these four occupational groups.