TY - JOUR
T1 - Is idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis an environmental disease?
AU - Taskar, Varsha S.
AU - Coultas, David B.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2006/6
Y1 - 2006/6
N2 - Several sources of evidence, including investigations of pathogenesis and observational studies, support the hypothesis that environmental agents may have an etiologic role in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Since 1990, six case-control studies have been conducted in three countries and have consistently demonstrated increased risk of IPF with exposures to a number of environmental and occupational agents. In a meta-analysis of these studies, six exposures were significantly associated with IPF (summary odds ratios [95% confidence intervals]), including ever smoking (1.58 [1.27-1.97]), agriculture/farming (1.65 [1.20-2.26]), livestock (2.17 [1.28-3.68]), wood dust (1.94 [1.34-2.81]), metal dust (2.44 [1.74-3.40]), and stone/sand (1.97 [1.09-3.55]). Although there are a number of limitations of the case-control design and these results alone do not establish a causal link, an assessment of all of the available evidence strongly suggests that IPF may be a heterogeneous disorder caused by a number of environmental and occupational exposures.
AB - Several sources of evidence, including investigations of pathogenesis and observational studies, support the hypothesis that environmental agents may have an etiologic role in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Since 1990, six case-control studies have been conducted in three countries and have consistently demonstrated increased risk of IPF with exposures to a number of environmental and occupational agents. In a meta-analysis of these studies, six exposures were significantly associated with IPF (summary odds ratios [95% confidence intervals]), including ever smoking (1.58 [1.27-1.97]), agriculture/farming (1.65 [1.20-2.26]), livestock (2.17 [1.28-3.68]), wood dust (1.94 [1.34-2.81]), metal dust (2.44 [1.74-3.40]), and stone/sand (1.97 [1.09-3.55]). Although there are a number of limitations of the case-control design and these results alone do not establish a causal link, an assessment of all of the available evidence strongly suggests that IPF may be a heterogeneous disorder caused by a number of environmental and occupational exposures.
KW - Interstitial lung diseases
KW - Occupation
KW - Risk
KW - Smoking
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U2 - 10.1513/pats.200512-131TK
DO - 10.1513/pats.200512-131TK
M3 - Review article
C2 - 16738192
AN - SCOPUS:33744908816
SN - 1546-3222
VL - 3
SP - 293
EP - 298
JO - Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society
JF - Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society
IS - 4
ER -