Making the Diagnosis of Occupational Asthma: When to Suspect It and What to Do

Although most adult patients seen by a clinician are employed, medical school curricula and residency training rarely cover occupational exposures and resultant diseases, even common ones that are encountered in a typical medical practice. This primer on occupational asthma is intended for the primary care clinician to provide the essential tools to diagnose and treat airways disease in the workplace. Using a case vignette format, we review the basic approach to suspecting and establishing a diagnosis of occupational asthma and address the thornier question of what to do about it. After reviewing this primer, the reader will be able to routinely include occupational asthma as part of the differential diagnoses in the adult patient with new or worsened asthma.