Case Report
How many deaths will it take? A death from asthma associated with work-related environmental tobacco smoke
Article first published online: 7 DEC 2007
DOI: 10.1002/ajim.20538
Copyright © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
1097-0274/asset/cover.gif?v=1&s=e0f33b687598b5adbbbced84abe7a827fb4a7d56 "American Journal of Industrial Medicine")
Additional Information
How to Cite
Stanbury, M., Chester, D., Hanna, E. A. and Rosenman, K. D. (2008), How many deaths will it take? A death from asthma associated with work-related environmental tobacco smoke. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 51: 111–116. doi: 10.1002/ajim.20538
Publication History
- Issue published online: 10 JAN 2008
- Article first published online: 7 DEC 2007
- Manuscript Accepted: 28 SEP 2007
Funded by
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Grant Numbers: 5U60 OH 008466, U59/CCU517742
- Abstract
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- asthma;
- environmental tobacco smoke;
- work-related;
- bars and restaurants;
- asthma death
Abstract
Background
Despite epidemiologic, experimental and observational data on the association of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and adverse health effects, bar and restaurant workers remain exposed to ETS in the majority of states and countries.
Methods
Three public health surveillance systems were used to identify and conduct a follow-up investigation of a reported acute asthma death of a young waitress in a bar.
Results
The waitress collapsed at the bar where she worked and was declared dead shortly thereafter. Evaluation of the circumstances of her death and her medical history concluded that her death was from acute asthma due to environmental tobacco smoke at work.
Conclusions
This is the first reported acute asthma death associated with work-related ETS. Recent studies of asthma among bar and restaurant workers before and after smoking bans support this association. This death dramatizes the need to enact legal protections for workers in the hospitality industry from secondhand smoke. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:111–116, 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.