Journal of occupational and environmental medicine最新文献

Objective: Work-related falls have been recognized as a serious problem in occupational health in recent years. We investigated the effect of presenteeism on work-related falls.

Methods: This study was a prospective cohort study and included older workers in a single retail company. We used the degree of presenteeism (assessed using the Work Functioning Impairment Scale: WFun) as the independent variable and the number of work-related falls as the dependent variable. We estimated incidence rate ratios (IRR) by multilevel Poisson regression analysis.

Results: Increasing WFun score was associated with increasing IRR for the number of work-related falls (p for trend = 0.005).

Conclusions: We found that presenteeism was associated with work-related falls among older workers in the retail sector. This study suggests that the measurement of presenteeism may also represent a proxy measurement of the risk of work-related falls.

Objective: In the past decade, U.S. transport accidents have resulted in over 370,000 fatalities. Research on medical history non-disclosure during mandatory regulatory exams has been limited. This study used the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Case Analysis and Reporting Online (CAROL) database to: (1) Identify non-disclosure, (2) Assess non-disclosure patterns, (3) Evaluate CAROL's research potential.

Methods: The CAROL database was searched for U.S. cases (01/01/2010-01/29/2024) involving fatalities and medically-related causes. Non-disclosure was defined as operators with undisclosed preexisting conditions or medications in NTSB reports. Twelve cases with recurring themes were described in detail.

Results: Of 3,012 accidents, 258 met our criteria; 80 (31%) indicated examinee non-disclosure in the NTSB investigation.

Conclusion: Operator non-disclosure in NTSB cases underscores CAROL's value for further investigations and highlights the risks non-disclosure poses to U.S. transportation safety.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of fatigue detection technology (FDT) cabin alarms in reducing fatigue events in rural truck drivers, assess the accuracy in detecting fatigue events alarms and examine whether drivers habituate to alarms over time.

Methods: Longitudinal naturalistic study of fatigue events before and after alarm activation.in 12 rural commercial trucks.

Results: The rate showed fatigue events were significantly higher when alarms were off (0.06), compared to when alarms were activated (0.03) (rate-ratio = 0.5 [0.4, 0.7], p < 0.001). Fatigue events increased as the alarm phase continued, indicating habituation. The device classified fatigue events with 49% precision, 32% were false positives and 18% reclassified as distraction when human verified.

Conclusion: In cabin fatigue alarms significantly reduced the rate of fatigue events initially, however increased again overtime.

Objective: To determine (1) the rate at which rescreening former Department of Energy site workers identifies non-communicable chronic diseases and (2) the development of comorbid conditions.

Methods: Incidence and prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, reduced kidney function, and peripheral neuropathy at both initial and return screenings were calculated. Risk ratio of chronic disease development at return screening based on the presence of other conditions at initial screening were estimated with generalized linear regression.

Results: Prevalence of reduced kidney function was 19% at initial exam and 30% at return examination. The screening program was responsible for identifying 81% of reduced kidney function cases. Similar findings were present for the other chronic conditions examined.

Conclusions: Former worker health surveillance programs help identify significant health conditions among DOE workers, subcontractors, and visitors. Longitudinal screening of participants detects additional chronic conditions.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between physical demands at work and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among women and their effects on quality of life (QOL) and productivity.

Methods: An online survey was conducted to collect data on the demographic characteristics, physical demands at work, and LUTS of Korean women. Occupational physical activity, sitting time, musculoskeletal risk tasks, and heavy lifting were assessed as physical demands at work. Multiple logistic regression and generalised linear model was applied to analyze the association of these factors with LUTS and LUTS-related outcomes.

Results: High level of occupational physical activity were significantly associated with LUTS, which reduced the workers' QOL and labour productivity.

Conclusion: Physical demands at work were significantly associated with a higher prevalence of LUTS, leading to reduced QOL and labour productivity.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to quantify and describe humeral and trunk ergonomic exposures across various occupations on a mine site.

Methods: Thirteen mine site workers from 11 different occupations were outfitted with wearable sensors to measure trunk and humeral kinematics during 1-4 natural on-site work tasks. Trunk flexion/extension and humeral elevation 10th, 50th, 90th and 99th percentiles, range, percent time in neutral and extreme posture, rate of movement repetition, mean angular velocity, and percent time working at slow and fast speed were calculated for each work task.

Results: Various degrees of ergonomic exposure were measured in the different occupations and work tasks; however, the housekeeping work was consistently the highest exposure task across many of the outcomes.

Conclusion: Future work should examine strategies for reducing the physical demand in work tasks identified as high exposure.

Objective: A firefighter wears a standard safety coat, its model unchanged for many years, when tackling a fire. We designed a new cooling system coat with carbon nano tube-based fabric and pouches inside the coat for coolants and fans. The coats, one standard and the other still evolving, are compared on several metrics including core body temperature and thermal comfort.

Methods: An experimental protocol was designed involving a live burn facility under the paradigm of non-inferiority study with firefighters trying both coats. The metrics are measured at several phases of the protocol. Multivariate t-test is used to compare the performance of the coats.

Results: The new coat is not inferior to the standard coat.

Conclusion: The new coat in its final form, which is yet to be tested fully, is a plausible replacement for the standard coat.

Objective: Healthcare and social workers (HSWs) often face demanding psychosocial work environments, which may lead to hypnotic use. This study investigates the associations between psychosocial work conditions, mental distress, burnout, and hypnotic use among HSWs compared to general employees.

Methods: Data from the 2022 Survey of Perceptions of Safety and Health in Work Environment in Taiwan included 202 HSWs and 808 matched general employees. Regression analyses examined relationships between psychosocial factors (e.g., job demands, job control, workplace violence) and mental health outcomes.

Results: HSWs reported higher job demands, workplace violence, burnout, and hypnotic use than general employees. Adverse psychosocial factors were linked to mental distress for both groups, with HSWs showing significantly higher odds of hypnotic use (OR = 2.47, 95% CI: 1.21-5.03).

Conclusion: Targeted interventions are essential to enhance workplace conditions and mental health for HSWs.

Objectives: Identify relevant gaps and suggest modifications to OEM Graduate Medical Education to increase knowledge about potential climate change impacts, teach practical skills, and promote relevant actions to protect workers.

Methods: ACOEM competencies were aligned to the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) physician competencies. ACGME OEM milestones were re-examined using a milestone curricular guide based on the peer-reviewed GCCHE competencies.

Results: Climate-change related OEM knowledge and skills are proposed for each OEM core competency domain. Nine residency milestones mapped to the ten ACOEM core competencies are highlighted by incorporating a climate-related activity along with a call to action.

Conclusion: OEM training already provides more climate-relevant content than other specialties. Nonetheless, OEM residents need more climate change education to help employers, workers, and their communities to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to climate change.

Objective: Effective communication in interprofessional settings is a key modifiable factor in addressing burnout among healthcare professionals. Previous research has paid less attention to the multi-level nature of interprofessional communication. This paper proposes a model explaining how individual-level factors (communication skills and uncertainty tolerance) and group-level factors (teamwork and response to errors) are linked to burnout via professional fulfillment.

Methods: Survey data were gathered from clinical health professionals in a tertiary teaching hospital in the United States. Multivariate linear regression and structural equation models were used to test our hypotheses.

Results: Individual-level communication skills and uncertainty tolerance and group-level teamwork and response to error were positively associated with professional fulfillment, which in turn tempered burnout among clinical professionals.

Conclusions: Enhancing individual communication skills and organizational communication climate are likely to mitigate burnout and enhance fulfillment among clinical professionals.