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Objective: This study aimed to investigate the risk of asthma among professional cleaners in a nationwide population-based study., Methods: Professional cleaners, aged 16-50 years, were identified according to the yearly assigned administrative job and industrial codes in a register-based, matched cohort study with other manual workers as references (1995-2016). Asthma was defined from national registers based on hospitalization and medication. Associations between recent and cumulative cleaning years and risk of asthma were estimated using Poisson regression, first in a full cohort and then in an inception cohort, among workers aged 16-20 years at the start of follow-up., Results: The risk of asthma was not increased for recent cleaning compared to references [adjusted incidence rate ratio (IRRadj) 1.02 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.99-1.04]. Similar results were seen for the inception cohort, where cumulative years of cleaning were associated with increased risk of asthma, more prominent for the group with the maximum of six years of cleaning IRRadj 2.53 (95% CI 1.38-4.64). Cumulative years of cleaning were associated with decreased risk of asthma, more pronounced for the maximum of ten compared to one year of cleaning [IRRadj 0.74 (95% CI 0.63-0.88)]., Conclusions: Asthma risk was increased in the inception cohort for cumulative years of cleaning but decreased in the full cohort. We could not confirm that recent work within cleaning was associated with increased risk of asthma. This may be due to healthy worker bias. Thus, we cannot rule out that long-term professional cleaning may be associated with increased risk of asthma.

Introduction: Skin cancer may, in some cases, be caused by occupational exposures. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of and exposures leading to occupationally induced skin cancers in Denmark during a ten-year period., Material and Methods: The study is a descriptive, register-based study comprising all patients with recognized occupational malignant and premalignant skin conditions in Denmark in the 01/01 2000-31/12 2009 period. Data were obtained from The National Board of Industrial Injuries and comprise information about diagnosis, occupational and domestic exposure, anatomic localization, occupation, degree of permanent disability, age and sex., Results: A total of 36 patients were recognized as occupational skin cancer cases. The mean age was 61 years (44-75 years), 31 men and five women. The most frequent diagnosis was basal cell carcinoma followed by squamous cell carcinoma. No cases of malignant melanoma were recognized. The primary risk factor for development of occupational skin cancer was ultraviolet (UV) exposure during outdoor working., Conclusion: Data based on recognized cases of occupational skin cancer during a ten-year period in Denmark show that non-melanoma skin cancer was the most frequent diagnosis, while the primary risk factor was UV radiation in outdoor occupations. A total of 36 cases were reported over a period of ten years, and underreporting may be suspected. The purpose of the present study was to raise the awareness of occupational skin cancer, and on the basis of existing data to contribute to criteria for the diagnosis of occupational skin cancer., Funding: not relevant., Trial Registration: not relevant.