Association of adult onset asthma with ever having worked in a high-risk exposure group by age 42
| Adult onset asthma | Adult onset asthma with airflow limitation† | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exposure group | Case/total | OR | OR* | 95% CI | p Value | q Value | Case/total | OR* | 95% CI | p Value |
| Main categories of high-risk exposures | ||||||||||
| Reference group (always worked in non-exposed) | 147/1864 | 1.00 | 1.00 | – | – | – | 24/1567 | 1.00 | – | – |
| Any exposure to HMW | 183/1897 | 1.26 | 1.33 | 1.05 to 1.68 | 0.018 | N/A | 37/1593 | 1.45 | 0.86 to 2.47 | N/A |
| Any exposure to LMW | 189/1966 | 1.25 | 1.49 | 1.18 to 1.89 | 0.001 | N/A | 37/1637 | 1.51 | 0.88 to 2.59 | N/A |
| Any exposure to mixed environments† | 75/807 | 1.21 | 1.45 | 1.07 to 1.97 | 0.016 | N/A | 19/669 | 1.86 | 0.99 to 3.50 | N/A |
| High probability of accidental peak exposure to irritants | 18/328 | 0.68 | 1.05 | 0.62 to 1.77 | 0.870 | N/A | 4/269 | 1.19 | 0.39 to 3.63 | N/A |
| Subcategories of high-risk exposures | ||||||||||
| High molecular weight | ||||||||||
| HMW animal antigens | 21/249 | 1.08 | 1.26 | 0.77 to 2.06 | 0.353 | 0.441 | 5/212 | 1.48 | 0.55 to 4.01 | 0.442 |
| HMW fish/shellfish antigens | 3/24 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| HMW flour associated antigens | 14/111 | 1.70 | 2.12 | 1.17 to 3.85 | 0.014 | 0.053 | 6/81 | 5.48 | 2.12 to 14.20 | 0.000 |
| HMW plant other associated antigens | 21/225 | 1.21 | 1.54 | 0.94 to 2.52 | 0.085 | 0.142 | 5/188 | 2.34 | 0.92 to 5.92 | 0.074 |
| HMW mite and insect antigens | 30/255 | 1.57 | 1.38 | 0.90 to 2.12 | 0.137 | 0.187 | 7/211 | 1.79 | 0.75 to 4.31 | 0.192 |
| HMW antigenic enzymes | 12/90 | 1.81 | 2.32 | 1.22 to 4.42 | 0.010 | 0.053 | 5/64 | 5.97 | 2.14 to 16.69 | 0.001 |
| HMW latex antigens | 114/1134 | 1.32 | 1.29 | 0.99 to 1.67 | 0.060 | 0.142 | 20/972 | 1.23 | 0.67 to 2.26 | 0.503 |
| HMW bioaerosol antigens | 19/311 | 0.77 | 1.09 | 0.65 to 1.81 | 0.749 | 0.864 | 4/259 | 1.14 | 0.38 to 3.41 | 0.818 |
| HMW pharmaceutical product antigens | 0/5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Low molecular weight | ||||||||||
| LMW highly reactive chemicals | 74/809 | 1.19 | 1.33 | 0.98 to 1.79 | 0.067 | 0.142 | 13/670 | 1.23 | 0.61 to 2.48 | 0.555 |
| LMW reactive chemicals-isocyanates | 11/188 | 0.73 | 1.04 | 0.54 to 1.98 | 0.911 | 0.936 | 4/159 | 1.91 | 0.63 to 5.79 | 0.253 |
| LMW reactive cleaning/disinfecting products | 92/755 | 1.63 | 1.67 | 1.26 to 2.22 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 20/627 | 1.91 | 1.03 to 3.56 | 0.041 |
| LMW antigenic wood dusts | 21/269 | 1.00 | 1.49 | 0.91 to 2.45 | 0.115 | 0.173 | 1/222 | – | – | – |
| LMW metal and metal fume antigens | 50/609 | 1.05 | 1.45 | 1.02 to 2.07 | 0.039 | 0.117 | 14/497 | 2.13 | 1.05 to 4.32 | 0.037 |
| Mixed environments† | ||||||||||
| Mixed environments: metal working fluids exposures | 11/189 | 0.73 | 1.03 | 0.54 to 1.97 | 0.936 | 0.936 | 2/155 | – | – | – |
| Mixed environments: textile production | 32/257 | 1.67 | 1.71 | 1.12 to 2.61 | 0.012 | 0.053 | 9/208 | 2.36 | 1.05 to 5.31 | 0.038 |
| Mixed environments: agricultural antigens | 35/399 | 1.13 | 1.43 | 0.96 to 2.13 | 0.078 | 0.142 | 10/338 | 2.14 | 0.99 to 4.62 | 0.054 |
Each effect estimate is from a separate model with the reference group being individuals who had always worked in a non-exposed job. Note that the exposure groups are not mutually exclusive and are not adjusted for exposure to any of the other agents in the table.
The q value corresponds to the minimum false discovery rate at which the test may be called significant (q<0.05).
Bold type indicates conventional levels of statistical significance (p<0.05).
*Adjusted for sex, smoking, father's social class at birth, region and hay fever.
†Those with asthma but no airflow limitation were coded ‘no’ for this analysis.
HMW, high molecular weight; LMW, low molecular weight; N/A, correction for multiple testing not applied.