Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine最新文献

Background: Pregnant Health Care Professionals (HCPs), who serve as front-line warriors of COVID-19 will invariably experience a stressful pregnancy period. Ensuring their well-being during this COVID-19 pandemic period is a big challenge and guidelines or standard operating procedures (SOP) for the same are non-existent or are scarce.

Objectives: To explore the challenges and experiences of pregnant HCPs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A qualitative study was conducted among 19 pregnant HCPs (14 Doctors and 5 staff nurses) working in Pondicherry, who were selected using purposive sampling for in-depth interviews. After obtaining informed written consent, face-to-face interviews were conducted until the attainment of the point of saturation. Audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed in English. Transcripts were proofread and manually analyzed for content. Codes obtained from the analysis of transcripts were merged to form broad categories.

Results: The majority 15 (78.9%) of HCPs belonged to the clinical department and had work experience from 2-4 years. The mean age of the respondents was 29.4 ± 3.6 years. Four broad categories (of challenges), namely, Personnel level (Fear of infection in workplace, Inadequate antenatal care), Family level (Family pressure to quit job, Guilt of spreading the infection to family members), society level (Criticism by neighbor for working, Stigma), and work level challenges (Fear of losing the job, Uncomfortable work environment) emerged from the study.

Conclusion and recommendations: Challenges faced by the pregnant HCPs due to their nature of work remain by and large not addressed. Hence, specific guidelines or SOPs addressing these issues of pregnant health care workers and their swift and strict implementation are the need of the hour.

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) serological markers among waste collectors in the municipality of Shiraz city, southwest of Iran, 2018.

Settings and design: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 385 waste collectors from all 10 districts of Shiraz city, southwest of Iran were enrolled. A questionnaire was used to gather occupational and demographic information as well as awareness about viral hepatitis.

Methods and material: Their blood samples were collected, and the sera were investigated for the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HBs antibody, and anti-HCV antibody using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results: All the participants were men with a mean age of 41 ± 8 years. Out of 385 participants, 6 (1.5%) subjects were positive for HBsAg, indicative of HBV infection. Moreover, 38 (9.9%) had a protective level of anti-HBs antibodies, while more than 90% had a low level of anti-HBs antibodies. All participants were negative for HCV antibodies.

Conclusion: According to these findings, evaluation of HBsAg and anti-HBs levels is recommended in the healthy program of waste collector workers (WCWs). However, this occupation might not be a risk factor for the acquisition of HBV and especially HCV infections.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common occupational health problems and one of the leading causes of temporary disability. This study aimed to assess the biomechanical constraints of upper limb musculoskeletal disorders associated with Tunisian weavers' tasks.

Methodology: An ergonomic approach was adopted with a representative sample of Tunisian weavers. First, the activity was observed mainly for identifying tasks and sub-tasks. Then, the biomechanical constraints were assessed based on the Borg scale and the software analyses and encoding of the 2,000 images extracted from the activity video recordings. These analyses were done with the ERGOROM software.

Results: Four main tasks were identified (warping of the loom, weaving itself, beating up, and finishing). As for the subtasks, the six most important were thread coiling, shedding and picking, beating up the weft, knotting, cutting, and shearing. Semi-quantitative analysis revealed that weavers spent most of their working time in the constrained neck and upper limb postures. Shoulders were in flexion/abduction during 68.6% of the activity and pinch grip was spread over 83.3% of the working time. Furthermore, elbows and wrists were highly concerned by elevated gestural variability scores. The estimated deployed strength was "medium" to "strong" in 50% to nearly 80% of cases.

Conclusion: According to the results, in carpet weavers, exposure to biomechanical constraints at risk of musculoskeletal disorders was high for the various joints and parts of the upper limbs. It is, therefore, necessary to carry out interventional studies for the development of ergonomic hand tools and workstations adapted to the traditional weaver activity.

Background: Air conditioners (AC) have become indispensable in the contemporary World. However, their effects on respiratory health need to be explored further using dynamic and static lung functions.

Objectives: The objectives were: 1. To evaluate and compare dynamic parameters (FEV1, FVC, FEV1/FVC, PEFR, and FEF25-75) in AC users and non-users of Bengaluru. 2. To evaluate and compare airway resistance and specific airway conductance as additional parameters.

Materials and methods: After applying ATS-ERS criteria for lung disorders, 30 AC users and non-users of Bengaluru, aged 18-40 yrs were assessed using body plethysmography. A significant association of restrictive pattern was seen in AC users (9 AC users out of 60 participants, Chi-square 8.37, P = 0.0038) having an Odd's ratio of 26.95 (CI: 1.4876 to 488.3558, Z = 2.229, P = 0.0258). Airway resistance (Raw) was comparable in both groups further indicating a non-obstructive pathology.

Conclusion: AC users had a significant decrease in flow rates (PEFR and FEF25-75) as well as an association with restrictive lung disorder suggesting the need for proper ventilation and hygiene. It is crucial to develop policies to maintain indoor air quality.

Background: Establishing an association between the coping strategies, stress, and lifestyle determinants with blood pressure levels among industrial workers is very essential to incorporate in the management of hypertension.

Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken at three factories located in Hyderabad on a camp-based approach which employed the usage of two standardized data collection tools-brief cope inventory scale and perceived stress scale along with other lifestyle determinants.

Results: There were 256 study participants consisting of 144 known diagnosed cases of hypertension and 112 normotensives. Overarching coping styles mainly emotion-focused and avoidant mean scores were found to be significantly higher among the hypertensive group compared to non-hypertensives with the following facets: planning, venting, self-distraction, substance use, and behavior disengagement having higher scores and low humor scores. Mean perceived stress score, increased mean body mass index, sedentary lifestyle, and family history of hypertension were found to be statistically significant with increased odds ratio among the hypertensives group.

Conclusions: A need exists to target this group with psychological interventions of cognitive behavior therapy at the earliest to improve the coping strategies which can be incorporated into the management of hypertension.

Fluoride acts as a key element in dental caries prevention strategy. The consumption of drinking water with adequate fluoride concentration protects the tooth from dental caries.To assess the fluoride level in various drinking water sources available in Coimbatore city. 100 water samples from corporation water, bore-well water and packaged water were randomly collected from five zones of Coimbatore. Fluoride estimation was done by colour comparator technique. The fluoride concentration in bore well water (0.9 ppm) was found to be high when compare to corporation water (0.48 ppm) and bottled water (0.2 ppm). The result obtained from this study stated that the fluoride level was suboptimal in community water and bottled water. Various alternative measures to be taken to artificially fluoridate the drinking water in Coimbatore to have better dental health.

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of acquiring tuberculosis (TB) infection and disease due to occupational exposure. But there are no national guidelines on routine screening for TB (active case finding (ACF)) among HCWs and understand its implementation and feasibility.

Methods: This study was conducted among HCWs in a teaching hospital in India. We used symptom screening to identify those with presumptive TB and were further evaluated for diagnosis of TB.

Results: A total of 1,001 HCWs were screened over a period of 18 months. In our study, 51 (5.1%) HCWs were found to have presumptive TB and on further evaluation, 5 (0.5%) of these patients were diagnosed with active TB. The number needed to screen (NNS) for one active TB among the HCWs was 200. Alcohol use was significantly associated with both presumptive TB (P = 0.037) and active TB (P = 0.035) among HCWs, and exposure to active TB patients (P = 0.014) in the family and workplace and increased frequency of exposures (P = <0.001) were associated with presumptive TB.

Conclusion: ACF for TB among HCWs had a good yield in our study. ACF utilizing routine national TB program guidelines is feasible to be implemented among HCWs to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of TB in this high-risk group.

Context: Beyond the biological impact of the pandemic in working life, socioeconomic consequences is also important for workers. This study aimed to investigate both biologic and economic impacts of the pandemic.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a structured questionnaire were applied by telephone to 233 workers who were diagnosed with coronavirus disease-2019 (Covid-19) at hospital. A pretest was applied before the data collection. The outcomes of the study were work-related Covid-19 transmission (WRCT) and pandemic-related economic worsening (PREW). Descriptive statistics is presented. Chi-square test is used in comparison of proportions.

Results: Of the 233 workers, 52% were male (n = 120) and the mean age was 37.7 (±9.2) years. WRCT was observed in 73% of health care workers. PREW was 6.7 times higher in private sector (95% confidence interval = 3.1-14.5), especially in self-employed and small business owners. Drivers and sales workers were the unluckiest. Because they were affected in terms of both the WRCT and PREW.

Conclusions: Within the framework of occupational health, the economic destructive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the biological impacts should be considered with a holistic perspective. Protective policies should be developed especially for economically fragile groups against the pandemic such as self-employed, small business owners, and private sector workers.