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Occupational Factors (occupational + factor)
Selected AbstractsOccupational factors and risk of Parkinson's disease: A population-based case,control study,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 3 2010Jordan A. Firestone MD Abstract Background Parkinson's disease (PD) has been associated with various workplace factors, but the evidence is inconsistent. Objective To estimate the risk of PD associated with various jobs and workplace exposures. Methods We conducted a population-based, case,control study of 404 incident PD cases and 526 age and sex-matched controls, collecting self-reported work histories including job titles and exposures to various industrial toxicants. Relative risks of PD from these exposures were estimated with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using logistic regression. Results Risk was not significantly affected by farming work, by metal work, or by exposure to pesticides, metals, or solvents. Conclusions These findings do not provide support for the hypothesis that workplace factors affect the risk of PD. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:217,223, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Environmental Risk Factors Predisposing to the Development of Basal Cell CarcinomaDERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 2004Malgorzata Zak-Prelich MD Background. Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) are the most common malignancies in white people. The incidence varies depending on the region of the world, with the highest rate of 1% to 2% per year noted in Australia. It is estimated that BCC incidence increases by 5% annually. An increasing incidence of BCC is in line with the changes in the living style and exposure to various environmental factors. Objective. To present the environmental factors that may influence the development of BCCs. The influence of ultraviolet radiation exposure alone and in connection with immunosuppression, smoking, occupational factors, as well as arsenic and ionizing radiation exposure, was described. Conclusion. BCC is a very complex disease, with many factors influencing its development. Environmental factors are very important for the prevalence of BCC, and most of them can be avoided. The exposure to ultraviolet radiation is undoubtedly of great risk; therefore, the national campaigns against aggressive, seasonal sun exposure, especially in children and adolescents, as well as using sunscreens, are of great value in the fight against BCC development. [source] Clues to an accurate diagnosis of contact dermatitisDERMATOLOGIC THERAPY, Issue 3 2004Robert L. Rietschel ABSTRACT:, An accurate diagnosis of allergic contact dermatitis can be achieved by a combination of historical, morphologic, and diagnostic steps. Clues in the history and physical examination can point to an irritant as the source of contact dermatitis. While irritants and allergens share many common features both immunologically and clinically, there are grounds for the distinction. Knowledge of occupational factors is necessary to assess the source of contact dermatitis. A common pitfall is the failure to appreciate the role of endogenous factors in the clinical presentation and overall care of the dermatitis patient. A comprehensive assessment of the patient's environment will lead to appropriate patch tests being applied and a correct diagnosis being reached. [source] Were volatile organic compounds the inducing factors for subjective symptoms of employees working in newly constructed hospitals?ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY, Issue 4 2004Tomoko Takigawa Abstract This study demonstrated possible relationships between environmental, personal, and occupational factors and changes in the subjective health symptoms of 214 employees after the relocation of a hospital in a region of Japan. Eight indoor volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected in at least one of the 19 rooms investigated, and total VOC (TVOC) concentrations in 8 rooms exceeded the advisable value (400 ,g/m3) established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. Formaldehyde was detected in all the investigated rooms, but none of the results exceeded the guideline value (100 ,g/m3). Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to select variables significantly associated with the subjective symptoms that can be induced by sick building syndrome. The results showed that subjective symptoms of deterioration in the skin, eye, ear, throat, chest, central nervous system, autonomic system, musculoskeletal system, and digestive system among employees were associated mainly with gender difference and high TVOC concentrations (>1200 ,g/m3). Long work hours (>50 h per week) in females and smoking in males were to be blamed for the deterioration of their symptoms. The present findings suggest that to protect employees from indoor environment-related adverse health effects, it is necessary to reduce the concentration of indoor chemicals in new buildings, to decrease work hours, and to forbid smoking. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 19: 280,290, 2004. [source] Is nurse,patient agreement of importance to cancer nurses' satisfaction with care?JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 3 2010Gunilla Mårtensson mårtensson g., carlsson m. & lampic c. (2010) Is nurse,patient agreement of importance to cancer nurses' satisfaction with care? Journal of Advanced Nursing66(3), 573,582. Abstract Aim., This paper is a report of a study of situational (nurse,patient agreement), personal and occupational factors of potential importance to oncology nurses' satisfaction with care provided and general work satisfaction. Background., Nurses have a general tendency to attribute to patients with cancer more problems and suffering than patients themselves report. However, little is known about whether dis/agreement between oncology nurses and patients with cancer concerning perceptions of patients' situation is of importance to nurses' satisfaction with their work. Methods., The study had a comparative and prospective design. Data were collected in 2005 using self-administrated questionnaires with 81 consecutively recruited nurse,patient pairs. Data were analysed with non-parametric tests (for comparison between subgroups) and with multiple regression analyses (for identifying predictors). Results., Initial nurse,patient agreement concerning patients' emotional distress, coping resources and quality of life did not appear to be important to nurses' subsequent satisfaction with the care directed at a specific patient. However, higher satisfaction with care provided as well as general work satisfaction was reported by nurses with more experience of cancer care and with a lower workload. Conclusion., To improve oncology nurses' opportunities to provide high quality cancer care, novice nurses and advanced beginners in particular should receive support and nurses' working conditions must be improved. Further research is needed to examine whether there are other aspects of the nurse,patient relationship that contribute to oncology nurses' satisfaction with the care provided to specific patients. [source] Long work hours: a social identity perspective on meta-analysis dataJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 7 2008Thomas W. H. Ng The current study utilizes social identity theory to investigate employees' work hours. Specifically, we use meta-analysis to examine the relationships between hours worked and indicators of organizational identity (e.g., organizational support and tenure), occupational identity (e.g., human capital investments and work centrality), and family identity (e.g., family responsibilities and family satisfaction). The meta-analysis also allowed us to explore other important correlates of hours worked (e.g., situational demands, job performance, mental health, and physical health), moderating variables (e.g., age, gender, and job complexity), and curvilinear relationships of work hours to social identity indicators. Overall, we found that occupational factors and situational demands had the strongest relationships with hours worked, hours worked were negatively associated with measures of employee well-being, gender had several significant moderating effects, and there were curvilinear relationships between hours worked and well-being and work,family conflict variables. The article concludes with directions for future theoretical and empirical research. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Reliability of demographic, smoking and occupational data provided by mothers vs. fathers in a childhood cancer studyPAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 3 2000R. McKean-Cowdin A large case,control study of children was used to test mothers' reporting of information on fathers' background, lifestyle and occupational factors. For a subset (104) of 1341 enrolled families, both parents were interviewed about fathers' characteristics. Reliability of reporting was determined for fathers' race, education, smoking status, non-recent job history and use of occupational agents. The ability of mothers to report fathers' race, education and smoking status was high (kappa > 0.70). Mothers were generally able to report jobs held by the fathers in the 5 years preceding the birth of the child, but reliability was higher for jobs held for longer (kappa typically above 0.70), rather than shorter periods (kappa above 0.40). The finding that mothers' reporting on fathers' background, lifestyle and non-recent job history was reliable is encouraging, because many studies on childhood health rely exclusively on information from interviews with mothers. However, mothers were not reliably able to describe exposure to specific occupational agents. [source] Hospitalization in Winnipeg, Canada due to occupational disease: A pilot studyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 5 2009Allen G. Kraut MD, FRCPC Abstract Background The objectives of this study were to identify the extent of occupational exposures to hazardous substances amongst male medical inpatients and to determine the extent to which these exposures may have contributed to the development of medical conditions. Methods A random sample of 297 male who were admitted from outside the hospital to the medical wards to a large tertiary care hospital, were between age 18,75 and could communicate in English completed an occupational history questionnaire. This information was merged with an inpatient database which contained patient demographics, admission diagnoses, and co-morbidity data. A specialist in occupational medicine and internal medicine determined whether the medical conditions the participants had were related to their exposures. Results One individual had a condition causing admission that was related to his work and 12 others (4%) had a condition that was possibly related to their work which had caused symptoms. One additional individual was found to have asymptomatic asbestos related pleural fibrosis. Fourteen of 37 possible harmful occupational exposures were reported by more than 10% of the study participants. On average each participant reported 5.5 exposures. Conclusions Occupational exposures to male medical inpatients are common. For 4.4% (13/297) of male admissions to the general medical wards from the emergency room occupational factors may have played a role in the development of medical conditions which led to admission or to major co-morbidities. Detailed occupational histories will likely lead to more suspected cases of work related medical admissions. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:372,379, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc [source] Job-related risk of latent tuberculosis infection in a homogeneous population of hospital workers in a low incidence area,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2009Alberto Franchi MD Abstract Background Few comprehensive tuberculin surveys were carried out in a homogeneous population of health care workers (HCWs) in a low incidence area to assess the risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection by different occupational groups and units. Methods Community and occupational factors and tuberculin skin test (TST) reactivity were determined in 1,755 HCWs. Results The overall prevalence of tuberculin reactivity was 6%. Predicting factors for TST reactivity were age >47 years (OR,=,2.88), history of household TB contact (OR,=,2.41), years of work as HCW (OR,=,2.57), physician (OR,=,1.88), and working in microbiology (OR,=,4.94), dialysis/nephrology (OR,=,2.00), gynecology/obstetrics (OR,=,2.01). In a multiple regression model working in microbiology [OR,=,4.16 (1.27,13.6)], dialysis/nephrology [OR,=,2.52 (1.36,4.65)], gynecology/obstetrics [OR,=,2.46 (1.24,4.86)] and age >47 years [OR,=,1.98 (1.14,3.46)] were significant predictors for infection. Conclusions A higher risk of latent infection can be demonstrated in well-defined groups of HCWs. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:297,303, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Occupational risk factors for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: A population-based case,control study in Northern GermanyAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2008David B. Richardson Abstract Objectives To identify occupational factors associated with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Methods A population-based case,control study was conducted in which incident cases of high-malignancy NHL (NHLhigh), low-malignancy NHL (NHLlow), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were ascertained during the period 1986,1998 among men and women aged 15,75 years residing in six German counties; controls were drawn from population registries. Occupational histories were collected and agent-specific exposures were estimated via a job-exposure-matrix. Odds ratios were estimated by conditional logistic regression. Results A total of 858 cases were included in these analyses. Agricultural workers [odds ratio (OR),=,2.67, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99, 7.21) and farmers (OR,=,1.98, 95% CI: 0.98, 3.98] had elevated risk of NHLhigh. Risk of NHLlow was elevated among agricultural workers (OR,=,2.46, 95% CI: 1.17, 5.16), and among blacksmiths, toolmakers, and machine tool operators (OR,=,3.12, 95% CI: 1.31, 7.47). Workers in sales and construction had elevated risks of NHLhigh and NHLlow. Exposure to arsenic compounds, chlorophenols, diesel fuel, herbicides, nitrites/nitrates/nitrosamines, and organic dusts were associated with NHLhigh and NHLlow, while exhibiting little association with CLL. A positive monotonic trend in NHLlow risk across tertiles of cumulative diesel fuel exposure was observed [P -value for test of linear trend (P),=,0.03]. Conclusions These findings provide insights into several potential occupational risk factors for NHL and suggest some specific occupational agents for further investigation. Am. J. Ind. Med. 51:258,268, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Influence of occupational factors on lung function in french dairy farmers.AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2006A 5-year longitudinal study Abstract Background Dairy farming is associated with a high prevalence of respiratory disorders but the respective influence of occupational exposures, environmental, and individual factors on lung function remain unclear. Methods In 1994 and 1999, dairy farmers were examined in the Doubs province, France. Spirometric measures and allergological tests were performed. Medical and professional data were obtained by questionnaires. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed. Results An accelerated decline in lung function parameters was associated with age, male sex, traditional farm (as opposed to modern farms), and a high rate of total IgE (P,<,10,2). Blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) was significantly positively linked with the modernization of the farm and negatively with age, smoking status, and log IgE (P,<,10,2). Geographical factors (altitude and climatic conditions) had no significant effect. Conclusions The modernization of the farm has an important and beneficial impact on lung functiony. Am. J. Ind. Med. 49:231,237, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | ||||||||||