This bulletin addresses several key questions regarding occupational asthma.
1. What is occupational asthma? - How is it defined, what are the different types, and in what ways does is differ from ‘normal’ and work-aggravated asthma
2. What causes it? - What are the factors that increase the risk of occupational asthma and which occupations present the greatest risks?
3. How common is the disease? - What is the prevalence and incidence of occupational asthma in Australia?
4. What are its consequences? - How does occupational asthma affect the individual and the health-care system?

Accurate measures of the prevalence and incidence of occupational asthma can be used to target where interventions are needed and to monitor and evaluate their effects. This bulletin includes a discussion of the monitoring and surveillance of the disease and its risk factors.