摘要:

The authors examined the relationships between stressful work conditions and diastolic blood pressure among blue collar men employed in similar occupational settings. The study population consisted of 288 male, hourly workers, aged 40–63 years, employed for a minimum of 10 years at one of two plants in the metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in January 1980. Blood pressure was assessed by the random zero muddler method by trained nurses at screenings between March 1981 and August 1982; 47 men who received pharmacologic treatment for previously diagnosed hypertension were excluded from the analyses. Multiple regression analyses showed that ratings of six (of 15) stressful work conditions as well as overall job dissatisfaction were significant predictors of diastolic blood pressure, controlling for age, body mass index, alocohol consumption, cigarette smoking habits, family history of hypertension, and severe noise-induced hearing loss. Men with elevated diastolic blood pressure reported having little opportunity for promotion and for participating in decisions at work, an uncertain job future, unsupportive coworkers and foreman, difficulties communicating with others, and overall dissatisfaction with the job. Additional stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that overall job satisfaction was related to low diastolic pressure among men from the plant rated as having overall good work conditions. These results are noteworthy because they support the importance of stressful work conditions and psychological reactions to those conditions in understanding the epidemiology of hypertension.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Author's abstractThis paper reports the health experience of compressed air workers during construction of the Island Line Section of the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong. The requirements of CIRIA's Code of Practice including specifications of the Blackpool Tables for decompression procedures and the employment of doctors to monitor the health of exposed workers by regular examination were prescribed by local legislation. Over a 3 year period there were 394,716 man-decompressions from pressures between 1 and 3.5 kg/cm2with 2,032 cases of acute decompression sickness giving a bends rate of 0.52%. The epidemiology followed the usual pattern of increase in bends rate with increase in pressure and length of shift and with age. Most attacks occurred within a short period after decompression and the majority of limb pains affectetd the leg. There were also 10 cases of barotrauma and 22 cases of dysbaric osteoneorosis of which 7 resulted in some disability. The low incidence of illness was an index of the effectiveness of the Code of Practice as applied to a large scale compressed air work operations but the toll of dysbarism, albeit small, underlines the problem that there are as yet no decompression procedures which will protect all men at all times and indicates the need for further research and work-site evaluation.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Eight workers handling fiberglass coated with uncured epoxy resin, out of a population of approximately 130 workers, developed dermatitis of their hands and forearms. Four also had involvement of the head and neck. Epicutaneous testing established the presence of contact allergy to epoxy resin in six, and one worker had continuous sensitivity to cresylglycidyl ether. Workers handling the coated material after it had been heat-cured were not affected, even if they had had problems with dermatitis while handling the uncured coated fiber.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of educational and environmental strategies on the employees' dietary and exercise practices, their satisfaction with their health practices, and their perception of organizational support for good health practices. Employees from the treatment company were randomly assigned to three intervention groups with varying levels of potency. A control company was tested to observe societal changes occurring during the program. All three intervention groups made significant changes in their health status. Except for the need to target employees with high cholesterol readings for individual counseling, the findings suggested that providing employees with feedback about their health status, persuasive information about risk reduction, and a supportive environment can result in significant changes with a minimum of professional involvement.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The records of 1000 consecutive coal miners applying for benefits under the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act were examined to determine the contribution of age, dust accumulation, and cigarette smoking to the profile of the miner who satisfies the current pulmonary criteria for disability. Using the presence of pneumoconiosis on chest radiograph as the indication of significant coal dust accumulation, the miners were separated into Group A—those without pneumoconiosis (n = 316) and Group B—those with pneumoconiosis (n = 684). The federal spirometric criteria for disability identified 55/316 miners in Group A (14.5%) and 99/684 miners in Group B (17.4%) potentially eligible for an award (P = .27). The mean ages of miners in both groups did not differ significantly, nor was there difference in the mean ages of groups that did or did not meet the federal criteria. In both groups, those miners potentially eligible for a financial award smoked more cigarettes than did their counterparts (Group A, 31.0 v 18.5 pack-years, P < .001; Group B, 31.3 v 23.6pack-years, P < .001). There was no difference in the smoking histories of the miners from either group who met the federal criteria. Our data indicate that, in the case of bituminous coal miners, the present federal legislation intended to identify and remunerate those who suffer lung impairment from chronic occupational exposure to coal dust is biased in favor of those who sustain additional damage to their ventilatory capacity by smoking cigarettes.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The mortality risks of respiratory cancer and of all other causes of death combined were studied in two types of cohort: (1) a cross-sectional cohort composed of all employees working in a chemical plant building in January 1963 when the occupational cause (chloromethyl ethers) of a suspected lung cancer epidemic was unknown, and (2) an inception cohort composed of all workers ever exposed in the building from the beginning of exposure, registered after the cause was recognized. Selection bias led to an overestimate of the risk in the cross-sectional cohort. The bias was due to overrepresentation of workers with moderate and high cumulative exposure to chloromethyl ethers in the cross-sectional cohort. The results indicate that a more valid assessment of an epidemic is obtained from a study of an inception cohort than from a study of a cross-sectional cohort.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study evaluates the mortality experience of 9484 white men who worked at a petroleum refinery. We compared the numbers of deaths among these men during the period 1940 through 1984 with the numbers expected on the basis of the mortality rates of US white men. Overall, there were 2874 observed compared with 3568 expected deaths (standardized mortality ratio, 77). Mortality rates for most major cause of death categories and most cancers were also lower than expected. However, there was a statistically significant 50% excess of leukemia deaths (44 observed/29.6 expected). Lymphocytic leukemia was increased both among men hired before 1940 and among men hired in 1940 or later. In contrast, myelocytic leukemia was increased only among men hired in 1940 or later. The restriction of the myelocytic leukemia excess to men hired in 1940 or later may be related to process changes which occurred at the refinery after 1940 and which resulted in an increased percentage of benzene in certain refinery streams. The presence of an excess of lymphocytic leukemia, but not myelocytic leukemia, among men hired before 1940 suggests that some factor other than benzene was responsible for the former condition.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

Employees in the hair care industry are exposed to a wide variety of inhaled chemicals, and occupational asthma among such workers has been described for years.1–4Although several reports have indicated that persulfate salts and henna can be specific allergic causes of occupational asthma,2–4other inhaled agents encountered by workers can cause bronchoconstriction by irritant as well as immunologic mechanisms.4,5Management of occupational asthma is difficult in this situation, especially if the patient is unwilling or unable to change jobs. The present case report deals with the therapeutic usefulness of inhaled cromolyn sodium in such a situation.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

The authors analyzed the birth weights of infants whose mothers worked during pregnancy in the reinforced plastics industry, where styrene monomer is a primary chemical exposure. Reproductive and work histories were taken by telephone interview from 1535 women employed between 1974 and 1981 at 36 companies. The questionnaire was based on one used by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and indices of styrene exposure were derived from an historical set of 1500 industrial hygiene samples from the study companies. There was not a significant dose-response trend in decreasing average birth weights. However, women who worked at the most highly exposed jobs—such as laminators, rollers, or spray-up operators at boat manufacturing companies—had offspring with adjusted birth weights of 4% less than the offspring of unexposed women (95% confidence interval = −7.7% to + 0.6%) after adjustment for other factors.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID

摘要:

This study provided 2 additional years of follow-up through 1984 for a previously studied cohort of 2192 employees potentially exposed to chlorinated dioxins. A separate analysis was done of the subgroup of 323 workers who had chloracne. No clear evidence was found for a causal association between any cause of death and potential occupational exposures to the higher chlorinated phenols, derivative products, or the chlorinated dioxins. Particular focus was directed at mortality from cancers of the stomach, liver, connective and other soft tissue, nasal and nasopharynx, and the lymphomas. Analyses by various indices of exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and hexa- to octachlorinated dioxins did not show deaths from these cancers to have been disproportionately distributed among the workers considered to have had the highest exposures.

ISSN:0096-1736    

出版商:OVID    

年代:1989

数据来源: OVID