Epidemiological features of occupational chronic obstructive lung disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Tobacco smoking is a main risk factor, but nearly 15–20% of COPD cases are caused by occupational exposure (to dust, gases, vapors, fibers). The review is aimed to search and analysis of literature on occupational COPD from evidencebased medicine viewpoint. Systemic search of literature covered databases of PubMed, Google Scholar, Cyberleninka, using a key word “occupational COPD”. As a result of the search, the authors selected 6 systematic reviews and 9 clinical studies for further analysis, proved cause-effect relationship between exposure to occupational factors at workplace and COPD. With that, occupational exposure contributes more significantly into formation and peculiarities of COPD course, than tobacco smoking does. Topics of phenotyping, early diagnosis, treatment peculiarities and pulmonary rehabilitation for occupational COPD patients remain unresolved.