A cross sectional study on combined prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) and bronchial asthma (BA) among construction workers

Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous syndrome with multiple phenotypes, the most prevalent of which is allergic asthma in association with allergic rhinitis. Construction is one of the important industries, which employs a large number of people on its workforce. In India about 340 million (92%) workers are in unorganized sector and about half of them are in construction industry. The construction workers are one of the most vulnerable occupational groups, prone to wide range of illnesses especially to respiratory morbidities like Asthma and allergic rhinitis. Despite this high risk very few studies are available on extent of asthma and AR in construction workers. Objectives: To assess the prevalence and factors influencing allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma among construction workers and to assess the degree of disease control using CARAT questionnaire Materials and methods: The study was a cross sectional study conducted in sub urban areas of metropolitan city of Chennai. The participants were selected by multistage Cluster random sampling. World Health Organization (WHO)-sponsored Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guideline, Spirometry and CARAT scoring were used in the study. Results: A total of 231 participants were included in the final analysis. The prevalence of any respiratory morbidity was 39% among study population. Out of the diseased 11 (4.8%) had AR alone, 12 (5.2%) subjects had BA alone and remaining 67 (29%) had both AR and BA. The prevalence of respiratory morbidity gradually increased with increasing age and was more in males. Upper airway symptoms were poorly controlled in 100% of the affected patients, this proportion was 66.7% for lower airway symptoms and 83.58% for combined airway score Conclusion: Co-existence of Bronchial asthma and Allergic rhinitis is more common among construction workers compared to general population. Male workers in middle age group are more prone to airway allergy. Bronchial asthma is poorly controlled in workers with coexisting allergic rhinitis.