• European Society for Environmental and Occupational Medicine

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Join charity EOM society and support its aims

Welcome to EOM

The European Society for Environmental and Occupational Medicine (EOM), was founded in 2011 by a group of European scientists, who recognized a need for cooperative European efforts supporting the research in the areas of environmental and occupational health.
EOM aims to strengthen independent interdisciplinary basic biomedical research on emerging new environmental work-related health problems.
EOM is registered charity (since 2012) with wide range contacts to university departments, governmental agencies and professional bodies.
EOM responds with the society view to consultive documents, topics of interest and guidelines concerning the specialty of the society.

An expanding number of human health problems have been linked to occupational or environmental exposures.

The global changes in the production, trade, logistic, and economic fields are combined with new health hazards for thousends of European workers for consumers and the environment.

Such new hazards may need new methods to identify them, new basic information on possible new toxic, carcinogenic and allergic effects.

 

Aim:

Increase the European cooperation and maintain interdisciplinary research network between independent scientists, physicians and practitioners.

Concise guidance: diagnosis, management and prevention of occupational asthma

Paul J Nicholson, Associate medical director, Paul Cullinan, Professor in occupational and environmental respiratory disease and Sherwood Burge, Professor in occupational lung diseases

doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.12-2-156 Clin Med April 1, 2012 vol. 12 no. 2 156-159

This concise guidance, prepared for physicians, summarises the British Occupational Health Research Foundation guideline for the prevention, identification and management of occupational asthma. Approximately one in six people of working age who develop asthma have work-related asthma, where work has either caused or aggravated their disease. Physicians who assess working adults with asthma need to ask the patient about their job and the materials they work with, and be aware of those that carry particular risks; they should also ask whether symptoms improve regularly on days away from work. A diagnosis of occupational asthma (ie asthma caused by work) should not be made on the basis of history alone, but be supported by immunological and physiological investigations of proven diagnostic benefit. Following a validated diagnosis of occupational asthma, physicians should recommend early avoidance of further exposure, because this offers the best chance of complete recovery. If appropriate and timely interventions are not taken, the prognosis of occupational asthma is poor, with only approximately one-third of workers achieving full symptomatic recovery.

EOM Society participates in EU funded multicenter Project DiMoPEx

The WHO has ranked environmental exposures among the top risk factors for chronic disease mortality. Worldwide, about 55 million people die each year from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) including cancer, diabetes, and chronic cardiovascular, neurological and lung diseases. External exposures in living and working environments alongside with individual susceptibility and lifestyle- driven factors contribute to NCD etiologies. EOM Member Prof. Dr. Lygia Therese Budnik is chairing the DiMoPEx project. Several EOM members are participating in the project: http://dimopex.eu/

Position statements of the EOM Society

The diagnosis of extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA) or hypersensitivity pneumonitis is difficult. Delays of years or even decades till the diagnosis is made are not uncommon; frequent misdiagnoses include allergic asthma, COPD, recurrent flue and other infections. The working group ALLERGIC DISORDERS from the EOMSociety recommends current diagnostics schema:

http://www.occup-med.com/content/10/1/15/abstract

Successful management of allergic diseases necessitates identifying their specific causes (i.e. identify the causative agent(s) and the route of contact to allergen: airborne, or skin contact) to avoid further exposure. Identification of sensitization by a sensitive and validated measurement of specific-IgE is an important step in the diagnosis. 
See: Practical guideline Immunological methods for diagnosis and monitoring of exposure-related type I allergic disorders caused by industrial sensitizing agents, IMExAllergy,”: 
 
 
See also: the systematic review "Performance of specific immunoglobulin E tests for diagnosing occupational asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis": 
 

EOM is member of INEP

INEP, International Network for Epidemiology in Policy, is a network promoting and protecting public health by serving as an ethical and effective counterweight to the misuse of epidemiology and other science. It volunteers its expertise to protect the public and to promote health and well-being through ethical, independent, and transparent science.