Industrial Asthma and Bronchitis

Our plain-English summary of Industrial Asthma and Bronchitis, by G.W.H. Schepers (1955).

The study

• Author: G.W.H. Schepers
• Published: Industrial Medicine and Surgery, February 1955
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This 1955 article was a narrative review, not a new study. The author collected published reports on bronchitis and asthma linked to work, covering organic dusts such as cotton, grain and bagasse, chemicals and metal fumes, irritant gases, air pollution, and the dust diseases asbestosis, coal miners' disease, siderosis and silicosis. On asbestos, the review cited other researchers. One, Becker, described a constant relationship between bronchitis, asthma and asbestosis. Wood and Gloyne listed septic bronchitis and bronchopneumonia among the commonest terminal complications of asbestosis. Reports from Quebec asbestos mining described little bronchial disability attributable to the asbestos exposure itself before asbestosis was advanced. The author's own view was that bronchitis and bronchiectasis were essential parts of asbestosis. The author found it surprising that bronchitis was not always recorded from the start of asbestos exposure, and supposed that asbestosis varied from industry to industry. The author concluded that the evidence favored accepting bronchitis and asthma as occupational diseases under certain circumstances. The author added that each case had to be judged on its own merits, and admitted that much uncertainty remained.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review of published literature (no new data collected)
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the author reviewed published reports on workers in many industries (for example cotton, grain, chemicals, mining, asbestos, coal, beryllium) in Europe, South Africa, Canada and the USA
• Exposure: A wide range of occupational exposures: organic dusts, chemicals and metal fumes, irritant gases, air pollution, and mineral dusts causing asbestosis, anthracosis, siderosis and silicosis. Asbestos fiber types were not named.
• Main results:
  • The review reported that Becker described a constant relationship between bronchitis and asthma and asbestosis, similar to the bronchitis Becker found at autopsy in silicosis cases in South Africa
  • The review cited Wood and Gloyne (1934) as agreeing that septic bronchitis and bronchopneumonia are among the commonest terminal complications of asbestosis
  • Citing Smith and Cartier on the Quebec asbestos mining area, the review stated that there is little respiratory (bronchial) disability attributable to the asbestos exposure itself before asbestosis has reached an advanced state
  • The review also stated, citing the same Quebec sources, that in advanced asbestosis bronchitis may be the terminal complication
  • The author's view was that bronchitis and bronchiectasis are essential components of asbestosis, possibly related to an enhanced bronchial cancer rate
  • The author found it surprising that bronchitis was not always recorded as accompanying asbestos exposure from the start
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the evidence inclined toward accepting bronchitis and asthma as occupational diseases under certain circumstances. The author also concluded that not every case in an industrial worker is due to work, and that each case must be judged on its own merits.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author acknowledged that a great deal of uncertainty remained on the whole issue
  • The author noted that findings on asbestosis were not confirmed everywhere and presumed that asbestosis varies from industry to industry

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Silicosis, Asbestos Exposure, Occupational Disease.

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