Abstract
Background: Worldwide, South Africa ranks twenty fifth for the prevalence of asthma and within the top five for mortality due to asthma. There are different asthma types including allergic, non-allergic, late-onset and work-related asthma (WRA). Work-related asthma has been defined as asthma that occurs as a result of exposure within the workplace (occupational asthma) or work-exacerbated asthma, which is when an existing condition of asthma is aggravated as a result of exposure within the working environment. It has been found that a maximum of 25% of asthma in adults could be attributed to the working environment. Previous studies highlighted a lack of studies conducted on work-related asthma in the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa and this study aimed to address this current gap in knowledge on the condition in the industry.
Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of WRA in pharmaceutical workers in Johannesburg.
Methodology: This was a quantitative study with a cross sectional study design. The study was conducted by contacting pharmaceutical companies based in Johannesburg requesting permission to participate in the study. Three companies agreed to participate in the study, and data was collected from employees working at the participating companies via an electronic link on Surveymonkey. There were 323 responses collected in the study. The results were cleaned and coded and analysed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics as well as logistic regression was done.
Results: The study showed that pharmaceutical workers in Johannesburg that have worked in the industry between 20-30 years (ORA = 4.29, 95% CI: 1.23 – 14.92) as well as those workers who were diagnosed with an increased risk of allergies (ORA = 27.30, 95% CI: 11.02-67.61) were more knowledgeable on the risks of WRA. The workers who were always exposed to drug fumes, (OR= 3.93, 95% CI: 1.31- 11.79), preservatives (OR = 4.58, 95% CI: 1.58 - 13.39) and latex (OR = 12.30, 95% CI:5.09 - 23.25) were more knowledgeable on the risks of WRA. Workers who indicated that they were smokers had better attitudes on the risks of WRA (OR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.25-5.68).
Conclusion: The study found that factors such as working experience, smoking status and atopy impacted on the knowledge and attitude of the workers on the risks of WRA. Factors such as age, gender, training and education and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) did not have an impact on the knowledge and attitudes of the workers on the risks of WRA.
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Keywords: occupational asthma, workplace exposure, hazards, training, education, atopy, risk factors