[Occupational bronchitis].

Abstract

Industrial bronchitis is defined as a chronic bronchitis due to prolonged exposure to polluted air at the professional workplace. Up until the nineteen eighties, its proper existence was open to controversy, because outside professional factors, such as tobacco, were considered as predominant causes. However, the most recent epidemiological studies have shown that exposure to dust, in conjunction or not with fumes and gases, was responsible for chronic obstructive syndromes. Bronchitis observed in silicotic patients is an interesting example. On the other hand, in other occupations, such as soldering, in which only gases and fumes are inhaled, the risk of chronic obstructive bronchitis is minimal. Due to the threshold limit values enforced by law since many years in Switzerland, the probability of industrial bronchitis is low; therefore the proportional responsibility of tobacco as cause of pulmonary obstruction is increased and justifies preventive effort also in this field.