Association between Occupational Exposures to Irritants and Biomarkers of Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress in the Egea Study

IntroductionThe biological mechanisms by which occupational exposures to irritants affect asthma are poorly understood. Oxidative/nitrosative stress pathway is involved in asthma and has been suggested as a mechanism of interest for the effect of irritants.AimTo test this hypothesis, we studied the associations between occupational exposures to irritants and 8 biomarkers related to oxidative/nitrosative stress. Analyses were done in participants without asthma, in order to evaluate associations independently of asthma-driven oxidative/nitrosative stress.MethodsWe analyzed data from 740 adults without asthma from the EGEA2 study, a case-control and family-based study (2003-2007; mean age: 47 years, 45% men). A new asthma specific job exposure matrix (Le Moual OEM 2018) was used to evaluate exposure to irritants including subgroups (e.g highly reactive chemicals, biocides; non-mutually exclusive categories). Exposure at the current job was evaluated in 3 levels (no exposure/medium/high). Biomarkers of inter...