Low socioeconomic status relates to asthma and wheeze, especially in women

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with asthma and wheezing. Occupational group, educational level and income are commonly used indicators for SES, but no single indicator can illustrate the entire complexity of SES. The aim was to investigate how different indicators of SES associate with current asthma, allergic and nonallergic, and asthmatic wheeze. In 2016, a random sample of the population aged 20–79 years in Northern Sweden were invited to a postal questionnaire survey, with 58% participating (n=6854). The survey data were linked to the national Integrated Database for Labour Market Research by Statistics Sweden for the previous calendar year, 2015. Included SES indicators were occupation, educational level and income. Manual workers had increased risk for asthmatic wheeze, and manual workers in service for current asthma, especially allergic asthma. Primary school education associated with nonallergic asthma, whereas it tended to be inversely associated with allergic asthma. Low income was associated with asthmatic wheeze. Overall, the findings were more prominent among women, and interaction analyses between sex and income revealed that women, but not men, with low income had an increased risk both for asthmatic wheeze and current asthma, especially allergic asthma. To summarise, the different indicators of socioeconomic status illustrated various aspects of associations between low SES and asthma and wheeze, and the most prominent associations were found among women.Peer reviewe

Occupation, socioeconomic status and chronic obstructive respiratory diseases - The EpiLung study in Finland, Estonia and Sweden

Objective: To study occupational groups and occupational exposure in association with chronic obstructive respiratory diseases. Methods: In early 2000s, structured interviews on chronic respiratory diseases and measurements of lung function as well as fractional expiratory nitric oxide (FENO) were performed in adult random population samples of Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Occupations were categorized according to three classification systems. Occupational exposure to vapours, gases, dusts and fumes (VGDF) was assessed by a Job-Exposure Matrix (JEM). The data from the countries were combined. Results: COPD, smoking and occupational exposure were most common in Estonia, while asthma and occupations requiring higher educational levels in Sweden and Finland. In an adjusted regression model, non-manual workers had a three-fold risk for physician-diagnosed asthma (OR 3.18, 95%CI 1.07-9.47) compared to professionals and executives, and the risk was two-fold for healthcare & social workers (OR 2.28, 95%CI 1.14-4.59) compared to administration and sales. An increased risk for physician-diagnosed COPD was seen in manual workers, regardless of classification system, but in contrast to asthma, the risk was mostly explained by smoking and less by occupational exposure to VGDF. For FENO, no associations with occupation were observed. Conclusions: In this multicenter study from Finland, Sweden and Estonia, COPD was consistently associated with manual occupations with high smoking prevalence, highlighting the need to control for tobacco smoking in studies on occupational associations. In contrast, asthma tended to associate with non-manual occupations requiring higher educational levels. The occupational associations with asthma were not driven by eosinophilic inflammation presented by increased FENO. Keywords: Asthma; COPD; Fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO); Occupational exposure; Smoking; Socioeconomic status.Peer reviewe

Sociala bestämningsfaktorer och astma : populationsbaserade studier av astma och luftvägssymtom i relation till yrke, yrkesmässig exponering och socioekonomisk status

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic obstructive airway diseases among children and adults, with a prevalence between 6-11% in European countries. It is also the most common work-related occupational respiratory disease. There are different methods to classify occupational exposure and, even though there is no clear consensus on which method is the most accurate, the single-item question on exposure to the composite measure vapour, gas, dust or fumes (VGDF) is commonly used in epidemiological research. Low socioeconomic status is associated with asthma and also behavioural factors such as smoking and over-weight, which by themselves are risk factors for asthma. Socioeconomic status is, however, truly a multifaceted concept and using only one measure does not encompass its entire effect on health-related outcomes. Asthma does also have a negative impact on the quality of life among adolescents: they report less physical fitness compared to their peers and more school absenteeism due to respiratory symptoms. Still, research on whether childhood asthma has any impact on socioeconomic status in young adulthood is scarce. Aim: The overall aim is to study social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, occupation and occupational exposure and their relationship with asthma and respiratory symptoms among adults and further, to evaluate if asthma during childhood or adolescence is associated with social determinants in young adulthood. Method: This thesis includes four papers based on data from the Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) studies. Papers I-III are cross-sectional studies among adults; a structured interview from clinical examinations between 2002-04 (paper I, n=4036) and postal questionnaire surveys from 2006 (paper II, n=9992) and 2016 (paper III, n=6854) with the addition of register-based data in paper III. Paper IV is a longitudinal prospective cohort study; the first OLIN paediatric cohort followed from 7 to 19 years of age and a postal questionnaire follow-up at ages 27-28 in 2015 (n=2017). Asthma was defined as physician diagnosis (paper I) together with respiratory symptoms (paper II-IV) or use of asthma medication (paper IV). In paper IV asthma was further categorized based on age of onset and p v and adolescence. Main or longest held occupation was used to categorize occupational and socioeconomic groups. In papers III and IV additional measures of socioeconomic status were included; educational level (papers III and IV) and income (paper III). In all papers, occupational exposure to vapour and/or gas, dust and fumes (VGDF or GDF) were taken into consideration and in paper I further divided into subgroups based on a detailed questionnaire on occupational exposure. Results: In paper I we found that the association between occupational exposure to VGDF and asthma and rhinitis was driven by the component of chemicals rather than dusts. In paper II, the ISCO-based manual Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations (SSYK) and the manual Socioeconomic classification (SEI), could both identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma, while the older ISCO-based manual Nordic Classification of Occupations (NYK) was not as sensitive. In paper III, behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as smoking and obesity and, occupational exposure to GDF were associated with low educational level. Interaction analyses between income level and sex revealed different patterns among women and men. Among women, low income was associated with all respiratory symptoms as well as asthma, while among men only with productive cough. In paper IV, early onset asthma was associated with lower educational level in young adulthood, especially not continuing after compulsory school. Further, those with asthma during childhood or adolescence did not seem to refrain from smoking at age 19, nor did they as young adults seem to avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to GDF. Conclusions: Increased automation in industries have decreased the number of manual workers in industries with typically dirty tasks, meaning that the interrelationships between the subgroups included in VGDF may have changed. This may also affect the meaning of occupational exposure to VGDF, at least with regard to asthma and rhinitis, and according to our findings exposure to the component of chemicals may be the most important. We also found that the use of an ISCO-based manual (SSYK) as well as socioeconomic classification based on job-title (SEI) can be useful and easily applicable tools to identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma. Further, low socioeconomic status is associated with respiratory vi symptoms and asthma. It seems as these associations relies more on low income than low educational level. Low educational level as well as low income are furthermore related to known behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as obesity, smoking and, also potentially modifiable risk factors as occupational exposure to gas dust or fumes. Having a persisting asthma since childhood is associated with lower educational level as a young adult. This may, in turn, be related with behavioural risk factors as discussed above and, there were no indications that those with child or adolescent asthma refrained from smoking at age 19. Neither did they in young adulthood avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to gas, dust or fumes, such as manufacturing, construction and transportation work. To conclude, our results indicate a vicious circle with regard to the relationship between the studied social determinants of health and asthma and respiratory symptoms.Ytterligare forskningsfinansiärer:Avtal om läkarutbildning och forskning (ALF), ett avtal mellan Umeå Universitet och Region VästerbottenKonsul Th C Berghs StiftelseRegion Blekinge</p

Sociala bestämningsfaktorer och astma : populationsbaserade studier av astma och luftvägssymtom i relation till yrke, yrkesmässig exponering och socioekonomisk status

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic obstructive airway diseases among children and adults, with a prevalence between 6-11% in European countries. It is also the most common work-related occupational respiratory disease. There are different methods to classify occupational exposure and, even though there is no clear consensus on which method is the most accurate, the single-item question on exposure to the composite measure vapour, gas, dust or fumes (VGDF) is commonly used in epidemiological research. Low socioeconomic status is associated with asthma and also behavioural factors such as smoking and over-weight, which by themselves are risk factors for asthma. Socioeconomic status is, however, truly a multifaceted concept and using only one measure does not encompass its entire effect on health-related outcomes. Asthma does also have a negative impact on the quality of life among adolescents: they report less physical fitness compared to their peers and more school absenteeism due to respiratory symptoms. Still, research on whether childhood asthma has any impact on socioeconomic status in young adulthood is scarce. Aim: The overall aim is to study social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, occupation and occupational exposure and their relationship with asthma and respiratory symptoms among adults and further, to evaluate if asthma during childhood or adolescence is associated with social determinants in young adulthood. Method: This thesis includes four papers based on data from the Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) studies. Papers I-III are cross-sectional studies among adults; a structured interview from clinical examinations between 2002-04 (paper I, n=4036) and postal questionnaire surveys from 2006 (paper II, n=9992) and 2016 (paper III, n=6854) with the addition of register-based data in paper III. Paper IV is a longitudinal prospective cohort study; the first OLIN paediatric cohort followed from 7 to 19 years of age and a postal questionnaire follow-up at ages 27-28 in 2015 (n=2017). Asthma was defined as physician diagnosis (paper I) together with respiratory symptoms (paper II-IV) or use of asthma medication (paper IV). In paper IV asthma was further categorized based on age of onset and p v and adolescence. Main or longest held occupation was used to categorize occupational and socioeconomic groups. In papers III and IV additional measures of socioeconomic status were included; educational level (papers III and IV) and income (paper III). In all papers, occupational exposure to vapour and/or gas, dust and fumes (VGDF or GDF) were taken into consideration and in paper I further divided into subgroups based on a detailed questionnaire on occupational exposure. Results: In paper I we found that the association between occupational exposure to VGDF and asthma and rhinitis was driven by the component of chemicals rather than dusts. In paper II, the ISCO-based manual Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations (SSYK) and the manual Socioeconomic classification (SEI), could both identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma, while the older ISCO-based manual Nordic Classification of Occupations (NYK) was not as sensitive. In paper III, behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as smoking and obesity and, occupational exposure to GDF were associated with low educational level. Interaction analyses between income level and sex revealed different patterns among women and men. Among women, low income was associated with all respiratory symptoms as well as asthma, while among men only with productive cough. In paper IV, early onset asthma was associated with lower educational level in young adulthood, especially not continuing after compulsory school. Further, those with asthma during childhood or adolescence did not seem to refrain from smoking at age 19, nor did they as young adults seem to avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to GDF. Conclusions: Increased automation in industries have decreased the number of manual workers in industries with typically dirty tasks, meaning that the interrelationships between the subgroups included in VGDF may have changed. This may also affect the meaning of occupational exposure to VGDF, at least with regard to asthma and rhinitis, and according to our findings exposure to the component of chemicals may be the most important. We also found that the use of an ISCO-based manual (SSYK) as well as socioeconomic classification based on job-title (SEI) can be useful and easily applicable tools to identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma. Further, low socioeconomic status is associated with respiratory vi symptoms and asthma. It seems as these associations relies more on low income than low educational level. Low educational level as well as low income are furthermore related to known behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as obesity, smoking and, also potentially modifiable risk factors as occupational exposure to gas dust or fumes. Having a persisting asthma since childhood is associated with lower educational level as a young adult. This may, in turn, be related with behavioural risk factors as discussed above and, there were no indications that those with child or adolescent asthma refrained from smoking at age 19. Neither did they in young adulthood avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to gas, dust or fumes, such as manufacturing, construction and transportation work. To conclude, our results indicate a vicious circle with regard to the relationship between the studied social determinants of health and asthma and respiratory symptoms.Ytterligare forskningsfinansiärer:Avtal om läkarutbildning och forskning (ALF), ett avtal mellan Umeå Universitet och Region VästerbottenKonsul Th C Berghs StiftelseRegion Blekinge</p

Sociala bestämningsfaktorer och astma : populationsbaserade studier av astma och luftvägssymtom i relation till yrke, yrkesmässig exponering och socioekonomisk status

Background: Asthma is one of the most common chronic obstructive airway diseases among children and adults, with a prevalence between 6-11% in European countries. It is also the most common work-related occupational respiratory disease. There are different methods to classify occupational exposure and, even though there is no clear consensus on which method is the most accurate, the single-item question on exposure to the composite measure vapour, gas, dust or fumes (VGDF) is commonly used in epidemiological research. Low socioeconomic status is associated with asthma and also behavioural factors such as smoking and over-weight, which by themselves are risk factors for asthma. Socioeconomic status is, however, truly a multifaceted concept and using only one measure does not encompass its entire effect on health-related outcomes. Asthma does also have a negative impact on the quality of life among adolescents: they report less physical fitness compared to their peers and more school absenteeism due to respiratory symptoms. Still, research on whether childhood asthma has any impact on socioeconomic status in young adulthood is scarce. Aim: The overall aim is to study social determinants of health such as socioeconomic status, occupation and occupational exposure and their relationship with asthma and respiratory symptoms among adults and further, to evaluate if asthma during childhood or adolescence is associated with social determinants in young adulthood. Method: This thesis includes four papers based on data from the Obstructive Lung Disease in Northern Sweden (OLIN) studies. Papers I-III are cross-sectional studies among adults; a structured interview from clinical examinations between 2002-04 (paper I, n=4036) and postal questionnaire surveys from 2006 (paper II, n=9992) and 2016 (paper III, n=6854) with the addition of register-based data in paper III. Paper IV is a longitudinal prospective cohort study; the first OLIN paediatric cohort followed from 7 to 19 years of age and a postal questionnaire follow-up at ages 27-28 in 2015 (n=2017). Asthma was defined as physician diagnosis (paper I) together with respiratory symptoms (paper II-IV) or use of asthma medication (paper IV). In paper IV asthma was further categorized based on age of onset and p v and adolescence. Main or longest held occupation was used to categorize occupational and socioeconomic groups. In papers III and IV additional measures of socioeconomic status were included; educational level (papers III and IV) and income (paper III). In all papers, occupational exposure to vapour and/or gas, dust and fumes (VGDF or GDF) were taken into consideration and in paper I further divided into subgroups based on a detailed questionnaire on occupational exposure. Results: In paper I we found that the association between occupational exposure to VGDF and asthma and rhinitis was driven by the component of chemicals rather than dusts. In paper II, the ISCO-based manual Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations (SSYK) and the manual Socioeconomic classification (SEI), could both identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma, while the older ISCO-based manual Nordic Classification of Occupations (NYK) was not as sensitive. In paper III, behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as smoking and obesity and, occupational exposure to GDF were associated with low educational level. Interaction analyses between income level and sex revealed different patterns among women and men. Among women, low income was associated with all respiratory symptoms as well as asthma, while among men only with productive cough. In paper IV, early onset asthma was associated with lower educational level in young adulthood, especially not continuing after compulsory school. Further, those with asthma during childhood or adolescence did not seem to refrain from smoking at age 19, nor did they as young adults seem to avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to GDF. Conclusions: Increased automation in industries have decreased the number of manual workers in industries with typically dirty tasks, meaning that the interrelationships between the subgroups included in VGDF may have changed. This may also affect the meaning of occupational exposure to VGDF, at least with regard to asthma and rhinitis, and according to our findings exposure to the component of chemicals may be the most important. We also found that the use of an ISCO-based manual (SSYK) as well as socioeconomic classification based on job-title (SEI) can be useful and easily applicable tools to identify occupational and socioeconomic groups at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma. Further, low socioeconomic status is associated with respiratory vi symptoms and asthma. It seems as these associations relies more on low income than low educational level. Low educational level as well as low income are furthermore related to known behavioural risk factors for respiratory symptoms and asthma such as obesity, smoking and, also potentially modifiable risk factors as occupational exposure to gas dust or fumes. Having a persisting asthma since childhood is associated with lower educational level as a young adult. This may, in turn, be related with behavioural risk factors as discussed above and, there were no indications that those with child or adolescent asthma refrained from smoking at age 19. Neither did they in young adulthood avoid occupations with known or expected exposure to gas, dust or fumes, such as manufacturing, construction and transportation work. To conclude, our results indicate a vicious circle with regard to the relationship between the studied social determinants of health and asthma and respiratory symptoms.Ytterligare forskningsfinansiärer:Avtal om läkarutbildning och forskning (ALF), ett avtal mellan Umeå Universitet och Region VästerbottenKonsul Th C Berghs StiftelseRegion Blekinge</p

Childhood onset asthma is associated with lower educational level in young adults – A prospective cohort study

Background: Asthma is associated with low socioeconomic status among both children and adults, and adolescents with asthma report more school absenteeism than those without. However, it is unclear whether asthma in childhood and adolescence affects socioeconomic status in adulthood. Methods: Within the Obstructive Lung disease In Northern Sweden Studies, all children in grade 1 and 2 in three municipalities were invited to a questionnaire survey, 97% participated (n = 3430). They were followed annually until age 19, and thereafter at age 28 years. In this study, participants at ages 8 y, 12 y, 19 y and 28 y (n = 2017) were included. Asthma was categorized into childhood onset (up to age 12 y) and adolescent onset (from 12 to 19 y). Data for assessment of socioeconomic status was collected at 28 y and included educational level, occupation, and occupational exposure to gas, dust and/or fumes (GDF). Results: Childhood onset asthma was associated with having compulsory school as the highest educational level at age 28 y, also after adjustment for sex, smoking and BMI at age 19 y and socioeconomic factors in childhood (OR 4.84 95%CI 2.01–11.65), and the pattern was the same among men and women. However, we found no significant associations between asthma in childhood or adolescence and socioeconomic groups, occupational groups or occupational exposure to GDF at age 28 y. Conclusions: Even though asthma in high-income countries, such as Sweden, is well recognised and treated, this study highlight that childhood onset asthma may have a negative long-term effect with regard to educational level in young adulthood

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Objectives: To evaluate the ability of three different job title classification systems to identify subjects at risk for respiratory symptoms and asthma by also taking the effect of exposure to vapours, gas, dust, and fumes (VGDF) into account. Background: Respiratory symptoms and asthma may be caused by occupational factors. There are different ways to classify occupational exposure. In this study, self-reported occupational exposure to vapours, gas, dust and fumes was used as well as job titles classifed into occupational and socioeconomic Groups according to three different systems. Design: This was a large population-based study of adults aged 30–69 years in Northern Sweden (n = 9,992, 50% women). Information on job titles, VGDF-exposure, smoking habits, asthma and respiratory symptoms was collected by a postal survey. Job titles were used for classification into socioeconomic and occupational groups based on three classification systems; Socioeconomic classification (SEI), the Nordic Occupations Classification 1983 (NYK), and the Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations 2012 (SSYK). Associations were analysed by multivariable logistic regression. Results: Occupational exposure to VGDF was a risk factor for all respiratory symptoms and asthma (odds ratios (ORs) 1.3–2.4). Productive cough was associated with the socioeconomic groups of manual workers (ORs 1.5–2.1) and non-manual employees (ORs 1.6–1.9). These groups include occupations such as construction and transportation workers, service workers, nurses, teachers and administration clerks which by the SSYK classification were associated with productive cough (ORs 2.4–3.7). Recurrent wheeze was significantly associated with the SEI group manual workers (ORs 1.5–1.7). After adjustment for also VGDF, productive cough remained significantly associated with the SEI groups manual workers in service and non-manual employees, and the SSYK-occupational groups administration, service, and elementary occupations. Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study, two of the three different classification systems, SSYK and SEI gave similar results and identified groups with increased risk for respiratory symptoms while NYK did not give conclusive results. Furthermore, several associations were independent of exposure to VGDF indicating that also other job-related factors than VGDF are of importance