Abstract

In the last ten years, the Asthma and Work research centre at Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur has demonstrated the importance of measuring bronchial inflammation in a noninvasive way in investigating and monitoring workers with occupational asthma. Induced sputum analysis is a very reliable method for evaluating bronchial inflammation. However, it has limitations: some subjects are incapable of expectorating; the analysis must be carried out by a qualified technician; the complete procedure takes at least two hours before obtaining an interpretable result. Measuring exhaled nitric oxide (NO) is another simple noninvasive way of investigating bronchial inflammation, in which the result can be directly read on an NO analyzer.
This method seems to be useful for monitoring asthmatic patients. Up until now, however, it has not been widely used in occupational health. The researchers want to validate the measurement of exhaled NO in the specific context of workers with occupational asthma in order to determine whether this method can replace the induced sputum method.
This study was funded by the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) in collaboration with the Center for Asthma in the Workplace at Montréal’s Sacré-Coeur Hospital.