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State: Ntl. Gelman: Nonsmokers Suffer From COPD: [2019-04-10] |
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Approximately 25% of adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have never smoked, and workplace exposures likely contribute to much of their disease. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 24% of workers who suffer from COPD never smoked. Among them, 26%-53% of COPD can be attributed to workplace exposures, including dust, fumes, gases, vapors and secondhand smoke exposure. The CDC reported:
During 2013-2017, about 2.4 million (2.2%) U.S. working adults abover 18 years old who never smoked had COPD. The highest COPD prevalences among persons who never smoked were in the information (3.3%) and mining (3.1%) industries, and office and administrative support occupation workers (3.3%). Women had higher COPD prevalences than did men. COPD is a workers’ compensation compensable condition. In one of my publications, "Workers’ Compensation Law," I wrote:
Efforts to reduce adverse workplace exposures and promote research to characterize the many contributing risk factors for COPD are needed to improve efforts to prevent and reduce risk for COPD among nonsmoking workers. Claimants' attorney Jon L. Gelman is the author of "New Jersey Workers’ Compensation Law" and co-author of the national treatise "Modern Workers’ Compensation Law." He is based in Wayne, New Jersey. This blog post is republished with permission. |