Occupational exposures and rhinitis in the population-based CONSTANCES cohort

Associations between occupational exposures to chemicals/irritants and rhinitis and its main phenotypes, allergic (AR) and non-allergic (NAR) rhinitis, have been scarcely investigated in large epidemiological studies in adult. We aimed to study these associations in the French population-based cohort CONSTANCES. Analyses were performed in 142,405 adults (47 years, 54% women, 19% smokers at inclusion (2012-2020)). Current rhinitis, AR and NAR were defined with standardized questions. Lifetime occupational exposures to chemicals/irritants (solvents, exhaust gases, fumes, dusts, pesticides) were evaluated by questionnaire. Binary and polytomous logit models (ref:never-rhinitis) adjusted for age, BMI, smoking, and French Deprivation Index were used. Analyses were carried out separately for men and women, and interactions were tested. Homogeneity of ORs between AR and NAR was tested. Occupational exposure to chemical/irritants was reported by 31% of the participants (men:43%, women:20%) and 41% of them reported having current rhinitis (AR:29%). For each of the exposures investigated, significant associations with current rhinitis were observed for both women and men (all <italic>p<0.0001</italic>), with more marked associations for women (adjusted(a)ORs between 1.34-1.64) than for men (aORs between 1.18-1.28) (all <italic>p-interaction≤0.03</italic>). In women, no heterogeneity of associations between AR and NAR was observed. In men, association with occupational exposures to solvents, fumes and dusts were significantly more marked for NAR than for AR (all <italic>p-homogeneity<0.0006</italic>). Self-reported occupational exposures to chemicals/irritant were associated with rhinitis, AR and NAR in adults. Further analyses using a job-exposure matrix are ongoing.