Types of Work Related Asthma

There are 3 types of work-related asthma:

• Work-Aggravated: when a person already has asthma but something at work makes the breathing symptoms worse.
• New-Onset Asthma from a High Level Exposure to a Substance at Work: when a person never had asthma before and was exposed to a spill or big leak of a chemical at work, and then developed asthma after that event.
• New-Onset Asthma from Working with a Substance Known to Cause Asthma: when a person may have worked with a substance at work, even for many years with no asthma symptoms and then develops asthma, months or years later.

For greater detail on the diagnosis and identification of the three types of work-related asthma, read the following scientific articles:

• Tarlo SM et al. Diagnosis and Management of Work-Related Asthma. ACCP Consensus Statement. Chest 2008; 134:1S-41S.
  
• Henneberger PK et al. Work-Exacerbated Asthma. Am J Resp Crit Care Med 2011; 184:368-378.
  

Substances at work that can cause asthma

There are more than 400 substances that have been reported in the medical literature that have been shown to cause work-related asthma. The list continues to grow. The main categories of substances that can cause asthma in the workplace include:

• ANIMALS (dander, fur, etc.)
• PLANTS and PLANT material
• CHEMICALS

The following is a short list of examples of the types of jobs, industries, and the types of substances that can cause asthma. For an Exposure Code online look-up option for asthma-causing agents, refer to this web site: www.aoecdata.org/ExpCodeLookup.aspx.

Some of the More Common Workplace Exposures

Job or Type of Industry	Type of Asthma-Causing Agent
Animal or Insect Proteins
Laboratory animal workers Veterinarians	dander and urine proteins
Food processing	shellfish, egg proteins
Poultry farmers	poultry mites, droppings, feathers
Grain workers	storage mites, aspergillus, grass pollen
Plant Proteins
Bakers	flour dust
Food processing	coffee bean dust, tea, meat tenderizer
Farmers	soybean dust
Sawmill workers/carpenters	wood dust (western red cedar, oak, mahogany, redwood, and others)
Electric soldering	colophony (pine resin)
Nurses	psyllium, latex
Chemicals
Plating	nickel salts
Beauty shop	persulfates
Welding	stainless steel fumes, chromium salts
Hospital workers	disinfectants (formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde)
Plastics manufacturing	TDI, HDI, Methylene diisocyanate, phthalic anhydride
Automobile painting	dimethyl ethanolamine diisocyanates

(Source: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.  June 1992, Pub. No. 92-3091)

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has developed Alerts on several asthma causing agents. These Alerts provide important information on working with some of the more widely-used and dangerous asthma-causing agents. Click on the reports below to read the Alerts on:

Preventing Asthma in Animal Handlers
Preventing Asthma and Death from Diisocyanate Exposure
Preventing Allergic Reactions to Natural Rubber Latex in the Workplace
View the Federal OSHA's website on metalworking fluids and asthma

---

Based on materials reviewed and provided by the Michigan State University Occupational and Environmental Medicine Department, updated 2023.