摘要:

AbstractThe health effects documented in recent epidemiological studies of nickel‐exposed workers relate to past exposures, mostly of unknown magnitude and unknown nickel speciation. Major studies have been carried out at nickel smelters and refineries. Although each study suffers from some deficiencies, as is common in such retrospective studies, the findings in concert strongly indicate that nickel emitted from the calcining and sintering operations is a potent carcinogen resulting in nasal and pulmonary cancers. Some risk appears to be present in other refinery operations, such as Orford furnace, copper and nickel sulfate, and crushing departments, and one study has suggested a risk associated with soluble nickel compounds in the electrolysis department, although this finding has not been confirmed. Only one study demonstrated an exposure‐response relationship, which, however, was not statistically significant. Other studies showed a relationship between increased exposure time and augmented cancer risk. In nickel‐using industries, no excess cancer related to nickel exposures has been demonstrated beyond doubt; concurrent exposures to other potential carcinogens constitute a confounding variable that makes interpretation difficult. However, the studies have not excluded that a cancer hazard may be present outside the nickel‐producing facilities. Further, case‐referent studies of respiratory cancers suggest that a nickel‐related etiology may well exist in the nickel‐using industries. As the exact identity of the carcinogenic form or forms of nickel remains unknown, exposure to all nickel compounds should be kept as low as reasonab

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130202

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractFifteen human volunteers were exposed to 1,1,1‐trichloroethane (methyl chloroform) vapor at 72–495 mg/m3for a period of 2 to 4 hours at rest (ten cases) and during light physical exercise (five cases). Subsequently 60 workers occupationally exposed to 1,1,1‐trichloroethane in a refrigerator manufacturing plant were studied (median value: 178 mg/m3; geometrical standard deviation: 2.19 mg/m3). As expected, the relative uptake (R) of 1,1,1‐trichloroethane decreased in the course of exposure at rest (R = 0.44 after 20 minutes of exposure; R = 0.26 after 240 minutes of exposure). Both in the experimentally exposed subjects and in the occupationally exposed workers, the urinary concentration of 1,1,1‐trichloroethane showed a linear relationship to the corresponding environmental time‐weighted average concentration. The correlation coefficients (r) were 0.95 in occupationally exposed subjects and more than 0.90 in experimentally exposed groups.A linear equation also existed between urinary concentration and amount of 1,1,1‐trichloroethane absorbed (r = 0.88). The findings indicate that the urinary concentration of 1,1,1‐trichloroethane can be used as an appropriate biological exposure indicator. In occupationally exposed subjects performing moderate work, the urinary 1,1,1‐trichloroethane concentration corresponding to the time‐weighted average of the threshold limit value was found to be 860 μg/L and its 95% lower confidence limit (biological

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130203

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractStrategies for the prevention of leading occupational health problems have been proposed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). NIOSH prepared these strategies following publication in 1983 of its suggested list of ten leading work‐related diseases and injuries. At a national symposium in 1985, occupational health experts from academia, organized labor, management, professional associations, and voluntary organizations conducted an in‐depth evaluation of the prevention strategies for the first five conditions on the list: occupational lung diseases, musculoskeletal injuries, occupational cancers, severe occupational traumatic injuries, and occupational cardiovascular diseases. The strategies were then revised to incorporate improvements suggested at the symposium and were published in booklet form. A summary of the revised strategies is provi

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130204

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractWe evaluated the cost and yield of a general health surveillance program emphasizing the identification of occupationally related diseases among workers in a high‐risk trade. Of approximately 4,000 eligible members of two local plumbers and pipefitters unions, 639 were screened in this program. Screening tests indicated either by specific occupational exposures (eg, chest X‐ray, spirometry, and audiometry) or general clinical risk factors (urine analysis for those with a positive urine dipstick, and stool heme occult testing for those over 45 years of age) proved to be far less costly for each positive finding than those procedures (physical examination, complete blood count, and blood chemistry panel) that were not specifically indicated. A discriminant analysis revealed predictor variables (age, years in the trade, and presence of respiratory symptoms) that, in subsequent screening efforts, could be used in the unscreened population either to identify individuals who are more likely to have any positive test result or to “tailor” the content of the initial screening program for a single individual. Increasing the yield and decreasing the direct costs of screening activities may make programs like these more affordable. In addition, this program assisted workers in filing for compensation and thus served to promote the appropriate transfer of cost for the identification and management of occupational diseases from traditional forms of payment to workers' compensation insurance p

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130205

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe relationship between the pattern of breathing in response to respirator‐type loads and an individual's psychophysiologic sensitivity to loads (load scaling sensitivity, LSS) was investigated in the study of 11 normal volunteers. LSS was measured by having the subjects numerically rate a series of resistors; Stevens's Psychophysical Law was used to evaluate sensitivity as the slope relating log (sensation) to log (stimulus). Peak pressure and actual added resistance were the stimuli. Inspiratory time, peak pressure, duty cycle, and tidal volume were inversely related to independently measured LSS during exercise and with a respirator‐type dead space and inspiratory resistance load. Because the need for changes in respiratory timing is a major adaptation in respirator use, it suggests that workers who are very sensitive to loads may have limited ability to adapt to respirator

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130206

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractMortality was updated through 1982 for 611 arsenic‐exposed employees originally studied through 1973. In the earlier report, total mortality was observed to have been below the comparable U.S. population; however, mortality was significantly elevated for respiratory cancer. The focus of the update was on respiratory cancer and of special interest was whether the risk of respiratory cancer remained in excess for individuals alive as of the end of the last study. In the update, 9 additional respiratory cancers were observed subsequent to 1973, the end of the follow‐up in the original study, versus 7.8 expected. The risk ratio for the time‐interval 1974–1982 (standardized mortality ratio SMR = 116) was diminished compared to that reported in the original study (SMR = 330). When the entire study period was analyzed, the risk of respiratory cancer did not appear to decline with interval since exposure cessation. Analyses by duration of arsenic exposure and interval since first exposure did not reveal any obvious dose‐response rela

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130207

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThis study compared the mental health, attitudes, and smoking behaviors of 133 workers who had been informed of health risks from exposure to toxic materials on the job with 137 workers who worked in similar conditions but who had not been told that their health was at risk because of exposure to toxic materials. The informed workers reported more health problems than controls, but there were no significant differences between the informed and uninformed groups in mental health, attitudes toward health hazards in or outside of the workplace, or in smoking rates. Ninety percent of all respondents felt that exposed workers definitely should be told of their health risks. These findings indicate little psychological risk from informing workers about their risks because of exposure to toxic substances and a strong desire on the part of workers to be informed.

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130208

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractComputerized hospital discharge diagnoses are useful for occupational disease surveillance. One thousand one hundred twenty‐six individuals with asbestosis and 268 individuals with silicosis were identified in New Jersey for the four‐year period 1979–1982. Computer‐generated maps help to dramatize the localization of these conditions to certain geographic areas.The attributes and limitations of using hospital discharge diagnoses for occupational disease surveillance are discussed: initial follow‐up data are presented for individuals with

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130209

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe utility of the Supplementary Data System (SDS) compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in conducting surveillance of occupational skin disease was evaluated by examining 14,703 workers' compensation cases reported to the SDS for the year 1981. Combined with state employment denominators obtained from the BLS Employment and Earnings Program, rates of illness (cases of dermatitis/10,000 employed) calculated for eight major industrial divisions varied significantly according to the criteria used for reporting cases. Despite quantitative variations in the rate of skin disease that depended on specific reporting criteria, the relative ranking of the major industrial divisions remained unchanged, with highest rates of skin disease consistently found in three major industry divisions: agriculture, manufacturing, and construction. This ranking of major industry divisions by rate of dermatitis corresponded extremely well with rankings generated from the 1981 Annual Survey (Spearman rank correlation = .98, p<.01). At the two‐digit level of the Standard Industrial Classification, the rankings based on the SDS had a 77% rank correlation with those from the Annual Survey. Two‐digit SIC codes identified from the top 10 in both sets of rankings included crop and livestock production from the agricultural division and leather products, food products, rubber and plastic products from the manufacturing divis

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130210

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractTo evaluate a recent report of malignant melanoma among printers, we used the Cancer‐Environment Registry of Sweden, which links national cancer incidence and employment data. Employees in the newspaper printing industry had almost twice the incidence of melanoma than expected (p<0.01). Elevated risks were found not only among typographers and machine repairers, but also among journalists, editors, and business executives in the printing industry. Further studies are needed to clarify this relationship and identify specific exposures that may be responsibl

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700130211

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

年代:1988

数据来源: WILEY