Documents job exposure relation 112 results

"Objective: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) represents one of the most significant and costly health problems occurring in the working population. An estimation of the potential impact of CTS prevention programs in the workplace would be useful for public policy. The aim of this study was to assess the work-related population-attributable fraction (PAF) of CTS in industrial sectors and occupational categories at high risk of CTS in the general population.
Methods: All cases of CTS occurring in patients living in a French region were included prospectively between 2002–2004. Using a mailed questionnaire, we gathered medical and occupational history from 815 women and 320 men. We calculated the age-adjusted relative risks and PAF of CTS in relation to industrial sectors and occupational categories.
Results: The PAF for women was higher in lower-grade, white-collar workers (24%, 95% CI 19–29) than blue-collar workers (19%, 95% CI 15–22). The PAF was higher for the service industries sector (16%, 95% CI 8–22) than manufacturing (10%, 95% CI 7–13) or agricultural (5%, 95% CI 3–7) sectors. The PAF was high for men in blue-collar workers (50%, 95% CI 41–57) and in the construction (13%, 95% CI 9–18) and manufacturing industries (17%, 95% CI 10–23).
Conclusion: The study suggested that 5-50% of CTS cases might be avoided in the whole population if totally effective intervention programs were implemented in specific occupational categories or industrial sectors."

"The incidence of cancer among employees of a Norwegian asbestos-cement factory was studied in relation to duration of exposure and time since first exposure. The factory was active in 1942-1968. Most of the asbestos in use was chrysotile, but for technical reasons 8% amphiboles were added.This study showed a high incidence of mesothelioma and a high ratio of mesothelioma to lung cancer among asbestos-cement workers. The high incidence of mesothelioma was probably due to the fact that a relatively high proportion of amphiboles was used in the production process."

Objectives This study determined the prevalence of neck pain and its relation to occupation and occupational activities in the general population.Methods A questionnaire was mailed to 21 201 subjects aged 16-64 years, randomly selected from the patient registers of general practices in England, Scotland, and Wales, and to 993 subjects randomly selected from pay records of the armed services. Information was collected on occupation, workplace physical activities, neck pain in the past week and year, headaches, and feelings of tiredness or stress. Associations were explored by logistic regression, the resultant odds ratios being converted to prevalence ratios (PR).Results Among 12 907 respondents, 4348 and 2528 reported neck pain in past year (1421 with pain interfering with normal activities) and week, respectively. Symptoms were the most prevalent among male construction workers [past week and year 24% and 38% (pain interfering with activities 11%), respectively], followed by nurses, armed services members, and the unemployed. Generally the age-standardized prevalence of neck pain varied little by occupation. Work with arms above the shoulders for >1 hours/day was associated with a significant excess of symptoms [PR 1.3-1.7 (women) and 1.2-1.4 (men)], but no associations existed for typing, lifting, vibratory tool use, or professional driving. Stronger neck-pain associations were found with frequent headaches (PR 2.3-2.8) and frequent tiredness or stress (PR 2.2-2.5) than with occupational activities.Conclusions The data provide evidence against a strong association between neck pain and the examined occupational physical activities. They suggest that psychosocial factors may be more important.

"Objectives The aim of the study was, on the basis of new information on nickel species and exposure levels, to generate a specific exposure matrix for epidemiologic analyses in a cohort of Norwegian nickel-refinery workers with a known excess of respiratory cancer. Methods A department-time-exposure matrix was constructed with average exposure to total nickel estimated as the arithmetic mean of personal measurements for periods between 1973 and 1994. From 1972 back to the start of production in 1910, exposure concentrations were estimated through retrograde calculation with multiplication factors developed on the basis of reported changes in the metallurgical process and work environment. The relative distribution of water-soluble nickel salts (sulfates and chlorides), metallic nickel, and particulates with limited solubility (sulfides and oxides) was mainly derived from speciation analyses conducted in the 1990s. Results The average concentration of nickel in the breathing zone was less than or equal to 0.7 mg/m3 for all workers after 1978. Exposure levels for smelter and roaster day workers were 2-6 mg/m3 before 1970, while workers in nickel electrolysis and electrolyte purification were exposed to concentrations in the range of 0.15-1.2 mg/m3. The level of water-soluble nickel was of the same order for workers in the smelting and roasting departments as in some of the electrolyte purification departments. Conclusions Compared with earlier estimates, the present matrix probably offers a more reliable description of past exposures at the plant."

"Objectives
Many women experience absence periods from work during pregnancy. Several single risk factors for absence are identified, whereas the impact of multiple concurrent exposures has been sparsely studied. We hypothesized that the presence of multiple occupational exposures would be associated with an increased risk of absence from work during pregnancy.
Methods
We included women from the Danish National Birth Cohort (1996–2002), pregnant with one child and working ≥30 hours/week at interview (mean gestational week 17 (standard deviation 4.0); N=50 142). Information about five occupational exposures (job demands, job control, work posture, work shift, lifting) were retrieved from the interview, each assigned values of 0/1, and summed into an index (0–5). The woman's first absence from work (both regular and related to pregnancy) after the interview was available from a nationwide administrative register. We analyzed data with Cox regression using gestational age as the underlying time-variable.
Results
Few women experienced none of the occupational exposures (3.6%) and most experienced two exposures (34.7%). Only 24.3% of the women were absent from work before gestational week 31. The number of occupational exposures was associated with an increasing risk of absence. The adjusted hazard ratio for absence increased from 1.3 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–1.5] for one exposure to 2.9 (95% CI 2.5–3.3) for four to five exposures compared to no occupational exposure.
Conclusion
The higher the number of potentially adverse occupational exposures pregnant women experienced, the higher the risk for absence from work during pregnancy."

"Objectives
The study aims to explore the prospective associations of the psychosocial work exposures of the job strain model with cardiovascular mortality, including mortality for ischemic heart diseases (IHD) and stroke, using various time-varying exposure measures in the French working population of employees.
Methods
The study was based on a cohort of 798 547 men and 697 785 women for which job history data from 1976 to 2002 were linked to mortality data and causes of death from the national death registry. Psychosocial work exposures from the validated job strain model questionnaire were assessed using a job-exposure matrix (JEM). Three time-varying measures of exposure were studied: current, cumulative, and recency-weighted cumulative exposure. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the associations between psychosocial work exposures and cardiovascular mortality.
Results
Within the 1976–2002 period, there were 19 264 cardiovascular deaths among men and 6181 among women. Low decision latitude, low social support, job strain, iso-strain, passive job, and high strain were associated with cardiovascular mortality. Most of these associations were also observed for IHD and stroke mortality. The comparison between the different exposure measures suggested that current exposure may be more important than cumulative (or past) exposure. The population fractions of cardiovascular mortality attributable to job strain were 5.64% for men and 6.44% for women.
Conclusions
Psychosocial work exposures of the job strain model may play a role in cardiovascular mortality. The estimated burden of cardiovascular mortality associated with these exposures underlines the need for preventive policies oriented toward the psychosocial work environment."

"Objectives
The quantitative job-exposure matrix SYN-JEM consists of various dimensions: job-specific estimates, region-specific estimates, and prior expert ratings of jobs by the semi-quantitative DOM-JEM. We analyzed the effect of different JEM dimensions on the exposure–response relationships between occupational silica exposure and lung cancer risk to investigate how these variations influence estimates of exposure by a quantitative JEM and associated health endpoints.
Methods
Using SYN-JEM, and alternative SYN-JEM specifications with varying dimensions included, cumulative silica exposure estimates were assigned to 16 901 lung cancer cases and 20 965 controls pooled from 14 international community-based case-control studies. Exposure–response relationships based on SYN-JEM and alternative SYN-JEM specifications were analyzed using regression analyses (by quartiles and log-transformed continuous silica exposure) and generalized additive models (GAM), adjusted for age, sex, study, cigarette pack-years, time since quitting smoking, and ever employment in occupations with established lung cancer risk.
Results
SYN-JEM and alternative specifications generated overall elevated and similar lung cancer odds ratios ranging from 1.13 (1st quartile) to 1.50 (4th quartile). In the categorical and log-linear analyses SYN-JEM with all dimensions included yielded the best model fit, and exclusion of job-specific estimates from SYN-JEM yielded the poorest model fit. Additionally, GAM showed the poorest model fit when excluding job-specific estimates.
Conclusion
The established exposure–response relationship between occupational silica exposure and lung cancer was marginally influenced by varying the dimensions of SYN-JEM. Optimized modelling of exposure–response relationships will be obtained when incorporating all relevant dimensions, namely prior rating, job, time, and region. Quantitative job-specific estimates appeared to be the most prominent dimension for this general population JEM."

"Objective
This study aimed to construct a job exposure matrix (JEM) for risk of becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in an occupational setting.
Methods
Experts in occupational epidemiology from three European countries (Denmark, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom) defined the relevant exposure and workplace characteristics with regard to possible exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In an iterative process, experts rated the different dimensions of the COVID-19-JEM for each job title within the International Standard Classification of Occupations system 2008 (ISCO-08). Agreement scores, weighted kappas, and variances were estimated.
Results
The COVID-19-JEM contains four determinants of transmission risk [number of people, nature of contacts, contaminated workspaces and location (indoors or outdoors)], two mitigation measures (social distancing and face covering), and two factors for precarious work (income insecurity and proportion of migrants). Agreement scores ranged from 0.27 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25–0.29] for ‘migrants' to 0.76 (95% CI 0.74–0.78) for ‘nature of contacts'. Weighted kappas indicated moderate-to-good agreement for all dimensions [ranging from 0.60 (95% CI 0.60–0.60) for ‘face covering' to 0.80 (95% CI 0.80–0.80) for ‘contaminated workspaces'], except for ‘migrants' (0.14 (95% CI -0.07–0.36). As country differences remained after several consensus exercises, the COVID-19-JEM also has a country-axis.
Conclusions
The COVID-19-JEM assesses the risk at population level using eight dimensions related to SARS-COV-2 infections at work and will improve our ability to investigate work-related risk factors in epidemiological studies. The dimensions of the COVID-19-JEM could also be valuable for other future communicable diseases in the workplace."

"Introduction
Quantitative job-exposure matrices (JEMs) have been developed to assign exposure using International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO)-68 coded job information. For extended compatibility with the less detailed ISCO-88 coding, a quantitative JEM using the same underlying model was developed. We compared exposure-response relationships between cumulative respirable crystalline silica (RCS) and lung cancer risk using a quantitative JEM based on ISCO-88 (88-JEM) and ISCO-68 (68-JEM).
Methods
Based on a common set of approximately 15 000 RCS measurements, job-specific, region-specific and time-specific exposure levels were estimated for the 88-JEM and the 68-JEM and linked to participants' job histories. Exposure-response relationships in an international lung cancer case-control study were analysed by logistic regression and generalised additive models.
Results
The 88-JEM and the 68-JEM yielded similar RCS-lung cancer associations, with elevated lung cancer risks across each cumulative exposure quartile. The 88-JEM exhibited a minor not statistically significant upward bend in the exposure-response curve at higher exposures.
Conclusion
To accurately detect associations between disease risk and occupational exposure, quantitative JEMs can be applied in community-based studies that provide job histories in either ISCO-88 or ISCO-68"

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