BACKGROUND: There has been widespread concern that the increasing incidence of @entity565 observed during the late 1980s might have arisen because of environmental pollution, and in particular vehicle pollution. The General Practice Morbidity Survey in 1991/92 (MSGP4) collected data on occupation, employment status, and smoking habit linked individually to each @entity1 record. OBJECTIVES: To examine whether @entity1 with occupations that have high exposure to vehicle exhaust fumes have an increased prevalence of @entity565 , @entity1729 , and @entity299 ( @entity299 ). METHOD: @entity1 aged 16 to 64 years were grouped by Standard Occupational Classification codes; 93,692 employed and 20,858 not-employed @entity1 were studied separately. Those with likely high occupational exposure were grouped together ('all-exposed')--the remainder occupations in corresponding chapters of the code were used as controls. We compared 12-month age and smoking standardised disease prevalence ratios for @entity565 , @entity1030 ( @entity1030 ), @entity1729 ( @entity299 ), and all @entity1457 in the all exposed and individual exposed occupations with their matching controls. Also the mean frequency of consultations per @entity1 consulting was calculated for each occupational group and disease. RESULTS: For employed @entity1 , the prevalence ratio (PR) for @entity565 in the all-exposed, (116, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 101-130) exceeded that for all employed @entity1 (100); however, the difference compared with chapter-matched controls (PR = 97, 95% CI = 92-103), was not statistically significant. Results for @entity1030 were similar. Prevalence ratios in motor mechanics, a high-exposure group, were 98 (95% CI = 70-127) 96 (95% CI = 70-123) for @entity565 and @entity1030 respectively. Among the employed, prevalence ratios for @entity299 in all but one of the individual occupation groups examined did not differ from the average, however among those not employed the ratio in the all-exposed (PR = 152, 95% CI = 128-174) exceeded that in the controls (PR = 112, 95% CI = 104-120). CONCLUSION: Occupational groups exposed to motor vehicle pollution have a marginally increased prevalence of @entity565 compared with working males generally, though not compared with occupation matched controls. This study has demonstrated a methodology for using GP data to examine occupation-related disease. This could be used in future by augmenting GP data with occupation and smoking information.

The prevalence of XXXX and @entity299 in transport workers: a practice-based study.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patient', 'Men', 'person', 'people', 'persons', 'men'] @entity565 :: ('MESH:D001249', 'Disease') :: ['asthma'] @entity1457 :: ('MESH:D012769', 'Disease') :: ['circulatory disorders'] @entity299 :: ('MESH:D006331', 'Disease') :: ['IHD', 'ischaemic heart disease'] @entity1729 :: ('MESH:D012141', 'Disease') :: ['acute respiratory infections'] @entity1030 :: ('MESH:D029424', 'Disease') :: ['chronic obstructive pulmonary disease', 'COPD']
@entity565 :: (MESH:D001249,Disease) :: ['asthma']
