Are Operating Room Nurses at Higher Risk of Severe Persistent Asthma? The Nurses' Health Study
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To assess the associations between operating room (OR) nursing, a category of health care workers at high risk of exposure to various inhaled agents, and asthma severity/control among women with asthma. METHODS: The level of severity/control in nurses with prevalent doctor-diagnosed asthma in 1998/2000 was compared, using nominal logistic regression, in OR nursing (n = 69) and administrative nursing (n = 546) from the US Nurses' Health Study for whom detailed information on asthma and nursing employment status was available. RESULTS: We observed a significant association between OR nursing, compared with administrative nursing, and severe persistent asthma (adjusted odds ratio, 2.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.06 to 5.77). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that nurses working in the OR are at a higher risk of severe persistent asthma. Further studies with detailed estimates of occupational exposures, especially to disinfectant/cleaning agents, are warranted.
Institutions: Université Paris-Sud, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Harvard University, Inserm, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Centre de recherche en Epidémiologie et Santé des Populations, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, Municipal Institute for Medical Research
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2312318518