ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Phenacetin abuse is known to produce kidney disease: salicylate use is supposed to prevent cardiovascular disease. We conducted a prospective, longitudinal epidemiologic study to examine the effects of these drugs on cause-specific mortality and on cardiovascular morbidity.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The impact of behavioral risk factors on absenteeism and health-care costs was analyzed among 45,976 employees in a large, diversified industrial work force. A cross-sectional design was used to evaluate health risk appraisal and physical-examination data collected from 1984 through 1988. Employees with any of six behavioral risks had significantly higher absenteeism (range = 10% to 32%) compared with those without risks. These differences led to significantly higher illness costs (defined as compensation, health care, and non-health care benefits) for those with risks compared with those without risks. Annual excess illness costs per person at risk were smoking, $960; overweight, $401; excess alcohol, $389; elevated cholesterol, $370; high blood pressure, $343; inadequate seatbelt use, $372; and lack of exercise, $130; Only one factor, lack of exercise, was not significant after adjusting for age, education, pay category, and the six other behavioral risks. The total cost to the company of excess illness was conservatively estimated at $70.8 million annually. These findings suggest that the cost of key behavioral risks provides an opportunity to manage health-care cost increases through health promotion, financial incentives for healthy lifestyle, and environmental changes that affect health behaviors.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study examines employee knowledge of and satisfaction with a nonsmoking polioy instituted at approximately 600 work sites of the New England Telephone company in 1986. A stratified random sample of employees was surveyed 20 months after the policy was implemented; 1120 (74.5%) returned surveys. Awareness of the rules about smoking in most areas was high, especially where smoking was totally banned. Respondents were highly satisfied with the policy, but half preferred additional restrictions on smoking. The policy was effective in reducing perceived environmental tobacco smoke exposure in work areas where smoking was banned but not in nonwork areas where smoking was allowed in designated areas. This study suggests that a highly restrictive nonsmoking policy—including a total ban on smoking—may be more easily and successfully implemented than are less restrictive policies.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Impairment from medication use in hazardous work environments has not been well studied. We analyzed incident events in an explosive manufacturing facility using a retrospective case control study to determine whether medication use was related to safety incidents. Medication use between the incident group and the controls was not significantly different. However, 23% of the incident group had been employed by the facility for less than 1 year compared with 2% of controls. Only 19% of restricted medication use was self-reported. In this study, being employed less than 1 year was a greater predictor of safety incidents than was medication use, and self-reporting did not reflect actual medication use. We conclude that medication use is not directly related to safety events and that a self-reporting program is difficult to justify in the corporate setting.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Police officers (n = 514) were studied to determine the relationship between physical fitness capacity and annual absenteeism rate. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that for officers aged 34 years and younger, only 5% of the variability in absenteeism could be accounted for by age, sex, and physical fitness variables. For officers 35 years old and older, 7% of the variability was explained by these variables, and a bicycle ergometer score was a significant predictor of absenteeism. Each individual test and an overall physical fitness score were classified into five levels. ANOVAs revealed no significant differences between overall fitness levels and absenteeism. However, men 35 and over who were most fit on the bicycle ergometer test had fewer absences, and women 34 and under who were thinnest had more absences. In conclusion, at least among police officers, the extent to which physical fitness capacity can predict absenteeism is low.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Increasing recognition by workers that blanching of their fingers may be due to hand-arm vibration exposure from the tools they use at work and their consequent claims for compensation emphasize a need for better clinical evaluation and prevention. We describe the symptoms and signs, and enumerate the diagnostic procedures (both screening and laboratory) necessary to establish the diagnosis and severity grading of subjects with hand-arm vibration syndrome. Although effective treatment of the condition other than avoidance of further vibration exposure is still being researched, prevention is all important. The necessary steps are identified.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

An historical cohort study was conducted among 4,213 men who worked for 5 or more years at a Soderberg aluminum reduction plant in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Standardized mortality and incidence ratios were used to compare the mortality and cancer incidence of the cohort with that of the BC population and to examine risk by cumulative exposure to coal-tar pitch volatiies (CTPV) and electromagnetic fields. Significantly elevated rates were observed for bladder cancer incidence (standardized incidence ratio [SIR] = 1.69) and brain cancer mortality (standardized mortality ratio = 2.17). The risk of bladder cancer was strongly related to cumulative exposure to CTPV (P < .01). The risk for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma also increased with increasing exposure (P < .05), although the overall rate was similar to that of the general population (SIR = 1.06). The lung cancer rate was as expected (SIR = 0.97), but showed a weak association with CTPV exposure that was not statistically significant. No individual cause of death or incident cancer site was related to exposure to electromagnetic fields. Analysis of the joint effect of smoking and CTPV exposure on lung and bladder cancer showed the exposure response relationships to be independent of smoking.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

To better understand the relationship of newly developed computerized neurobehavioral tests to their examiner-administered counterparts, performance on four pairs of tests was compared among 185 solvent-exposed workers in the paint manufacturing industry. Two approaches to the comparison of the test methods (computer or examiner) were employed: (1) the multitrait-multimethod correlation matrix and (2) linear regression modeling of the difference scores between pairs of tests (same functional domain, different test formats). The data revealed that the validity criteria of the multitrait-multimethod technique were met for the tests of simple visual reaction time and attention-concentration (digit symbol substitution). Linear regression analyses demonstrated that the digit symbol substitution and visual memory test pairs were differentially affected by age, vocabulary, solvent exposure, or manual dexterity. Overall, this latter approach holds promise as a means of understanding test format similarities and differences.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

We studied cross-seasonal changes in pulmonary function and respiratory symptoms in 52 wildland firefighters in Northern California. The mean cross-seasonal change in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) was — 1.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] — 0.5%, — 2.0%) with a corresponding mean change in forced expiratory volume (FVC) of — 0.3% (95% CI 0.4%, — 1.0%). Decreases in FEV1and FVC were most strongly associated with hours of recent fire-fighting activity (P = .002 and .01, respectively). When the study group was divided into three categories based on recent fire-fighting activity, firefighters in the high activity category (mean ± SE, 73 ± 7 hours of fire-fighting in previous week) had a — 2.9% (130 mL) change in FEV1and a — 1.9% (102 mL) change in forced vital capacity (FVC). There was a significant cross-seasonal increase in most respiratory symptoms evaluated. Several symptoms (eye irritation, nose irritation, and wheezing) were associated with recent fire-fighting. These findings suggest that wildland firefighters experience a small cross-seasonal decline in pulmonary function and an increase in several respiratory symptoms. Research is under way to identify the fire conditions and specific components of exposure that produce pulmonary irritants, and to examine the potential reversibility of acute pulmonary change.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1991

数据来源: OVID