Topic overview

Start with the big picture

The topic organizes occupational lung disease around exposure to inorganic dusts, organic antigens, and toxic fumes or gases. It introduces pneumoconioses such as silicosis, asbestosis, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, berylliosis, and hard-metal lung disease, alongside occupational asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, byssinosis, and acute irritant injury. These disorders can involve direct tissue toxicity, immune-mediated inflammation, or progressive fibrosis and remodeling. A detailed occupational exposure history provides an important starting point for evaluation, which may include imaging and pulmonary function testing. The broader lesson connects distinctive clinical patterns with diagnostic assessment, management, prevention, surveillance, and the pharmacist’s role in occupational health.