Occupational lung diseases in office-based workers
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A descriptive study of occupational lung diseases in office-based workers
IRAS ID
282132
Contact name
Gareth Walters
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Occupational lung disease (OLD) is a general term used to describe a variety of lung diseases which result from the inhalation of particles a person is exposed to in the workplace. Common diseases seen in OLD are occupational asthma (estimated 10-15% of all asthma diagnoses), hypersensitivity pneumonitis and inhalation injuries. Traditionally, offices are viewed as safe and non-hazardous environments, therefore, anecdotally carry a low risk of OLD.
This study is a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study using existing clinical database data and supplementary data obtained from electronic and paper medical records to describe the occupational lung diseases diagnosed in office workers. All researchers are clinical care team members at the Birmingham Regional NHS Occupational Lung Disease Service, UK, therefore, having access to this information as part of routine patient care. We believe that summarised data from these patients will be of interest to clinicians and policy makers in the UK, and so intend to publish the findings.
This study aims to:
1. describe worker demographics and diagnostic characteristics in these patients, in order to provide insight into cause of disease, typical characteristics of presentation and trends in exposure to different agents over time.2. Identify exposures (the likely cause of disease, job title, industry) associated with OLD in office-based workers seen clinically at the Birmingham Regional NHS Occupational Lung Disease Service, UK.
Patients will be identified by revieweing a pre-existing Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, kept electronically since 2002, by the clinical care team at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, in a password protected folder. We shall report the demographics as well as anonymised occupational histories (i.e. no identifiable employee/ employer details), the diagnosis, investigation results and clinical course/ prognosis.
The data will be grouped and displayed using measures of central tendency and spread for continuous data, and proportions for categorical data.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/EM/0022
Date of REC Opinion
12 May 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion