摘要:

AbstractReanalysis of Hanford data by a method, which is new only in the sense that it makes new uses of standard epidemiological procedures, has produced evidence of a cancer risk at low dose levels. By a conservative estimate, about three per cent of the pre‐1987 cancer deaths of Hanford workers had occupational exposures to external radiation as the critical (induction) event. These radiogenic cancers were evenly distributed between five diagnostic groups, but as a result of there being much greater sensitivity to “cancer induction by radiation” after, rather than before, 50 years of age, they were concentrated among the cancers which proved fatal after 70 years of age. The reanalysis provides no support for the idea that radiation is more likely to cause leukemia than solid tumors, or the idea that there is reduced cancer effectiveness of radiation at low dose levels (dose rate effectiveness factor or DREF hypothesis), but the estimated proportion of radiogenic cancers was much higher for the 175 nonfatal cancers (which had other certified causes of death) than for the 1,732 fatal cases.Finally, according to the latest publication of the US Committee on Biological Effects of lonizing Radiation (BEIR V), dose rate is more important than exposure age, and even a single exposure to 10 rem would only increase the normal cancer risk by four percent. Nevertheless, for all recorded exposures of Hanford workers, the estimated doubling dose was close to 26 rem; for exposures after 58 years, it was close to 5 rem, and for exposures after 62 years, it was less than 1 rem. © 1993 Wiley‐L

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230302

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractMine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) surveillance data were analyzed to elucidate mine characteristics or injury characteristics that distinguished mines with high rates of transport‐related injuries from mines with lower transport injury rates. The results showed that most high‐rate mines are small, high‐rate mines have a disproportionate number of injuries involving young and less experienced workers, and injuries in high‐rate mines are proportionally more severe. Further analyses of the MSHA injury data showed that smaller mines have a greater share of fatal and permanently disabling injuries, whereas larger mines have a greater share of injuries involving no lost time. Based on these results, we explored two explanations for the small mine injury risk: (1) a suggestion that differences in injury reporting between large and small mines may contribute to anapparentsmall mine injury risk, and (2) identification of factors contributing to atruedifference in transport‐related injury risk between small and large mines.Whereas it was true that most high injury rate mines were small, most small mines were actually zero‐rate, having reported employment but no injuries to MSHA. An analysis employing binomial probability theory showed that a substantial proportion of small mines reported zero injuries when it was statistically probable that injuries would have occurred. This indicated that small mines may underreport injuries relative to larger mines. The possibility that reporting bias affected the associations found in this study was explored by eliminating the least severe injuries from the data set and evaluating changes in associations. This “adjustment” for reporting bias did not change previously observed relationships.Finally, MSHA injury data were analyzed in concert with mining population data collected by the Bureau of Mines. With such denominator information, the results indicated a disproportionately high risk of injury among workers in their first year at a mine and indicated that higher injury risk in small mines might be explained by the fact that workers at small mines have substantially less experience than workers at large mines. An effect of age was not found in these analyses. These results suggest the potential importance of targeted training programs for newly hired miners. Results also point to the need to explore specific factors contributing to the small mine injury risk, and to the necessity for complete and accurate reporting of injury data. © 1993

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230303

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractUsing injury information from the 1986 Mine Safety and Health Administration data‐base, and demographic information from a 1986 sample survey of the miner population, acute traumatic injury rates for male workers in underground bituminous coal mines were computed by age, current job experience, and total mine work experience. Three groups of workers assessed in this study showed the highest injury rates: workers aged 15–30 years; workers with between 2 and 3 years of experience; and workers with 10 or more years of experience in the current job.Injury rates decline with age in each time‐interval of current job category and each total mine working experience category. Experience per se does not appear to be related to lower injury rates independent of age, which is paradoxical. The interaction of worker age with length of current or total mining experience is complex. The potential for catastrophic multiple fatalities and severe injuries suggests that additional work is needed to study, simultaneously, factors such as training and job task, and those that describe specific work exposures and mining hazards. © 1993 Wiley‐L

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230304

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractTo better describe patterns of nonoccupational morbidity among construction laborers and their dependents, two health insurance plans organized by local unions of the Laborers' International Union of North America provided their medical claims data for 1989. The observed numbers of hospital admissions were compared with the numbers expected, based on the age‐sex‐specific hospital discharge rates from the 1989 National Hospital Discharge Survey. Standardized morbidity ratios thus obtained showed excesses for alcohol and drug dependence, complications related to pregnancy, and several other conditions. Medical claims data are a very useful resource in epidemiologic and medical care research, but their use poses numerous challenges, mainly related to the accuracy of diagnostic recording, problems in comparing different health insurance plans, and confounding factors due to health insurance largely being a condition of employment. Nevertheless, the use of these data can provide specific hypotheses for further study. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. © 1993 Wiley‐

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230305

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractComputerized population‐based hospital discharge data in New Jersey offer new opportunities for surveillance of serious work‐related injuries. This database was evaluated for its potential in identifying selected injuries that occurred at work during 1985 and 1986. Hospital discharge data were compared with data collected by telephone interview of discharged patients. A total of 1,575 unique hospital discharge records for the selected injuries included finger amputation (1,041), thumb amputation (209), crush injury of the lower limb (208), toxic effects of heavy metals (69), and eye burns (48). Of 809 study subjects sent letters, 445 (55%) could be contacted and 289 (36%) were interviewed for the study. Sixty‐one percent (175) said their injury was work related. A comparison was made between self‐reported injury at work, and the presence of workers' compensation payer codes on the discharge database. The agreement beyond chance (Kappa) was 0.78 (95% CI + 0.67, 0.89). The sensitivity of this indicator of work relatedness was 83%; specificity was 98%. These data suggest that worker's compensation payment on the hospital discharge database may be a good to excellent proxy indicator of the work relatedness of these injuries. However, this proxy indicator will underestimate the number of work‐related injuries by about 20%. Only 11% of hospital discharge records had external cause of injury codes (E‐codes), which reduces the utility of the database for understanding the causal mechanisms of work‐related injuries. © 1993 W

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230306

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractAbout 19,000 finger amputations occur at work each year in the United States. Twenty percent of these injuries are severe enough to require hospitalization. Hospital discharge data from New Jersey (1985, 1986) were used to describe the demographic characteristics of persons with such injuries and to identify potential subjects for telephone interview. A total of 637 persons hospitalized for finger amputations were sent letters asking for their participation. Of 637 persons, 355 (56%) were contacted and 228 (36%) were interviewed, of whom 134 (59%) said their injury occurred at work. The annual rate of finger amputations at work was 9.3 per 100,000 employed persons. The rate was higher for males (14.7) than females (1.9). The age‐adjusted rates were higher for Hispanic (52.8) and black (28.9) males than for white males (9.5). Persons working with machines or maintaining them in the manufacturing industry were at highest risk. Unjamming or repairing machinery (e.g., presses, saws, or slicers) while in operation was particularly hazardous. These data can be used to target occupations and industries for specific worksite intervention to prevent finger amputations. One limitation of this study, however, is that hospitalized occupational finger amputations may not be representative of all finger amputations, the majority of which are less severe and do not require hospitalization. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss,

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230307

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis survey was designed to assist with planning epidemiologic studies of the effects of solvent exposure among motor vehicle manufacturing workers. The objectives were to identify subgroups of workers with solvent exposure, and to evaluate the availability of data for a job‐exposure matrix (JEM). Of 65 plants selected, 31 (48%) participated. Participant plants represent all production activities initially included in the survey, and employ 97,655 hourly workers. About 14% of these workers use organic solvents (direct exposure), and 19% work in the proximity of solvent‐using operations (indirect exposure). However, only 3% have direct exposure, and 6% have indirect exposure to large‐volume (≥ 100 gallons/month)/high‐frequency (hourly)‐use solvents. The highest solvent exposure prevalence occurs in plants manufacturing engines and power train components and in metal degreasing/cleaning and painting tasks, and entails exposure to petroleum fractions, aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, and ketones. A JEM can be developed using plant records on job titles, work histories, production scheduling, and plant engineering, and using the corporate computerized personnel and industrial hygiene databases. However, information on solvent use and on exposure is adequate only for recent time periods. © 1993 Wil

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230308

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIn a series of 65 surgically treated lung cancer patients, past exposure to asbestos was evaluated by personal interviews, and by scanning electron microscopy analyses of the mineral fibers in lung tissue. Lung tissue samples of 17 autopsied male office workers were analyzed as referents. According to occupational history, 37% of the lung cancer patients had definite or probable, 31% possible, and 32% unlikely exposure to asbestos. The fiber concentration in the lung tissue ranged from<0.1 to 65 million fibers per gram dry tissue in the lung cancer group, and from<0.1 to 0.8 million fibers per gram dry tissue in the reference group. In 26% of the lung cancer patients, but in none of the referents, the fiber concentration exceeded 1 million fibers per gram dry tissue. Most of the exposed patients had been employed in various construction jobs, and valuable information about the exposure levels could be obtained by the mineral fiber analyses. In general, there was a good accord between the exposure categorization and the fiber burden measured in the lung. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, I

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230309

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractHealth education represents a fundamental tool in the prevention of occupational diseases. For lead‐exposed workers, work practices, personal hygiene, and life habits are certainly influences in the amount of the metal absorbed in the body. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a health education program in 50 workers exposed to inorganic lead employed in seven small factories. The study was performed in 3 phases over one year. Before the program, blood lead levels were measured, and a questionnaire was administered in order to evaluate the baseline knowledge of the workers about lead poisoning and its prevention. After the health education program, the blood lead levels decreased (from 38.2 to 32.3 μg/dl) and the questionnaire scores improved in a highly significant manner (p<0.001). These results were obtained both in the short (4 months) and in the medium term (1 year). The reduction of blood lead concentrations seemed to be due to changes in hygienic behaviors and life habits, such as alcohol consumption or cigarette smoking, probably induced by an increase in specific knowledge about the prevention of lead damages. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230310

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractAn outbreak of “humidifier fever” affected 16 (57%) of 28 workers in a print shop. The most common symptoms were myalgia, chills or subjective fever, and cough. Illness began 5–13 hours after entering the workplace, and lasted 2–24 hours. A humidifier in use the day of the outbreak was found to be contaminated with fungi, amebae, and Gram‐negative bacteria. The risk of illness was highest for those who had been on the job 3 months before the outbreak, a time when the humidifier was in constant use. Serologic studies of print shop workers showed positive reactions to extracts of organisms isolated from the humidifier, but could neither distinguish ill from well workers, nor identify causative organisms. The presence of endotoxin‐producing bacteria and the clinical syndrome are consistent with an organic dust toxic syndrome. Previous exposure appeared to be the major risk factor for illness. © 1993 Wil

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700230311

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1993

数据来源: WILEY