Occupational Lung Diseases: Causes, Consequences and Challenges

Abstract

The systematic review synthesizes the diverse documentation of research on the burden of occupational lung disease (OLD) and its uncanny load in the modern industrial era greatly resembles iceberg phenomenon. The major OLDs include asbestosis, asthma, coal workers pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, hypoxia, lung cancer, metal fume fever, silicosis etc. We searched the literatures limited to English only in Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct using selective keywords and cross references in different combinations. The search criteria retrieved relevant but highly scattered information or data on the present context spanning both global and Indian perspectives. The present review is an updated understanding along with retrospective data of the last twenty years. The main objective of the present review is to identify the causes of common lung diseases in different occupational sectors and their consequences. Conventional to alternative diagnostic methods and potential biomarkers for disease identifications have been summarized taking into account that early diagnosis of the disease has some limitations. Identification of the disease with early predictive biomarker will be challenging and may leave a foot print for greater societal benefit.