GPs should encourage asthma patients to move jobs if they believe their health is being affected by occupational factors, according to a new UK report.
The report by researchers at the Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham, said health outcomes of occupational asthma are good with early diagnosis, but found a third of sufferers never make a full recovery, as GPs do not always act soon enough to remove them from the source of their condition.
Study leader Dr Gareth Walters said: ‘The most important thing is recognising that the patient has a problem related to their work. If you can recognise the relationship between symptoms and work then you’ve already taken the first step.’
