Respiratory symptoms, atopy and bronchial hyperreactivity in professional firefighters

¹ Clinic of Pneumology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland; and Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
² Clinic of Pneumology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
³ Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, University, Basel, Switzerland
⁴ Hospital Pharmacy, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
⁵ Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology, University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: miedingerd{at}uhbs.ch.

	Abstract

A study to assess respiratory health in professional firefighters.

101 male professional firefighters from the city of Basel, Switzerland were included. The control group derived from the Basel sample of the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA) consisting of 735 male subjects of the general population. All subjects were administered a standardized questionnaire, spirometry, skin prick tests and bronchial challenge testing to methacholine.

Respiratory symptoms encountered during work were more frequent in firefighters compared to the general population including burning eyes (21% vs 3%), running nose (19% vs 2%), throat itching (26% vs 3%), cough (28% vs 3%), dyspnoea (7% vs 2%) and headache (25% vs 3%) respectively (p<0.05 for all comparisons). Atopy was present in 51% of firefighters compared with 32% in the general population (p<0.001). Odds ratio for hyperreactivity to methacholine was 2.24, (95% CI 1.12-4.48) for firefighters compared with the general population.

Firefighters reported more respiratory symptoms at work and suffer more often from atopy compared to the general population. Bronchial hyperreactivity was more pronounced in firefighters, but not related to acute exposure or duration of employment. Whether these findings were present at recruitment or developed after joining the workforce is unclear.