Skip to main content

Work-related Asthma

Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the lungs and can make it difficult to breathe. Asthma may be caused or made worse by exposures in the workplace, such as cleaning chemicals, wheat flour, mold, wood dusts, spray polyurethane foam, and many others.

According to our data, an estimated 200,000 adults in Massachusetts have work-related asthma. Health care providers should ask all adult patients with new or worsening asthma about work and report suspected cases of work-related asthma to the Department of Public Health (DPH). We use data to characterize work-related asthma in the state and to target intervention efforts. CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) funds this project.

What would you like to do?

Top tasks

Is my asthma work-related?  Asthma and cleaning products at work 

All other tasks

Report a case of work-related asthma or other lung disease  Look up chemicals that can cause asthma using the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics "Exposure code lookup."  Order informational materials 

What you need to know

Learn about occupational disease and injury reporting  Data reports and publications  Occupational Lung Disease Bulletins 

CDC-NIOSH Work-related Asthma  State-Based Occupational Respiratory Disease Surveillance  Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), Occupational Health Indicators  Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC)  Recommendations for a Clinical Decision Support System for Work-Related Asthma in Primary Care Settings  OSHA - Occupational Asthma  American Lung Association – Work-related Asthma  American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology – Occupational Asthma  American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology – Occupational Asthma  Health and Safety Executive (UK) webpage - Occupational Asthma  CDC- Asthma  National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute - Asthma  The Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership  Guide for employers, workers, and their representatives - BOHRF  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 
Open PDF file, 234.82 KB,  Occupational Asthma Treatment Guideline (English, PDF 234.82 KB)

Contact Information

Address

Mailing address
250 Washington St., 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02108
Directions 

Phone

Call Work-Related Asthma Surveillance and Prevention Project at (617) 624-5632

Online

Email Work-Related Asthma Surveillance and Prevention Project at MDPH.OHSP@state.ma.us

Fax

Main fax (617) 624-5676
Confidential fax (617) 624-5696

Related Services

Image credits:  Shutterstock

Help Us Improve Mass.gov  with your feedback

Please do not include personal or contact information.
Feedback