Documents D'Errico, Angelo 5 results

"Background: Hospital workers are a diverse population with high rates of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The risk of MSD leading to workers' compensation (WC) claims is likely to show a gradient by socioeconomic status (SES) that may be partly explained by working conditions. Methods: A single community hospital provided workforce demographics and WC claim records for 2003-2005. An ergonomic job exposure matrix (JEM) was developed for these healthcare jobs from direct observation of physical workload and extraction of physical and psychosocial job requirements from the O*NET online database. Occupational exposures and SES categories were assigned to workers through their O*NET job titles. Univariate and multivariate Poisson regression analyses were performed to estimate the propensity to file an injury claim in relation to individual factors, occupational exposures, and SES. Results: The jobs with the highest injury rates were nurses, semi-professionals, and semi-skilled. Increased physical work and psychological demands along with low job tenure were associated with an increase in risk, while risk decreased with psychosocial rewards and supervisor support. Both occupational and individual factors mediated the relationship between SES and rate of injury claims. Conclusions: Physical and organizational features of these hospital jobs along with low job tenure predicted WC injury claim risk and explained a substantial proportion of the effects of SES. Further studies that include lifestyle risk factors and control for prior injuries and co-morbidities are warranted to strengthen the current study findings. "

"European countries have experienced an outstanding increase in life expectancy during the last decades; however, this desirable and laudable societal achievement has challenged pension systems financial sustainability. National governments have almost unanimously responded to this demographic change by limiting access to retirement, mainly increasing statutory pension age. This article explores possible unintended effects of work life extension in the context of ageing population and provides some policy considerations. In particular, the authors focus on the following issues: work ability at older age, the potential negative health consequences of prolonging exposure to occupational hazards, welfare program substitution, shortage of informal caring, and, finally, the inequity innate in pension systems which disregard differences in life expectancy between socio economic groups."

"In psychosocial occupational epidemiology, most past research has focused on the demand-control (DC) model, and in recent decades also on the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model, in order to detect risk factors for health. The focus on these models raise: a) priority, b) conceptual and c) methodological issues that will be discussed in the article. The priority issues pertain to whether there is empirical evidence for the focus on the two models. For conceptual issues, main questions are whether the empirical confirmation of the assumptions of these models holds and if the sub-dimensions of the models' scales have equally strong health effects. Concerning methodological issues, we discuss how exposure to job strain is categorized, how ERI has previously been measured, and the validity of self-reports of job strain. To tackle the open questions, main reviews were reviewed and supplemented by own assessments of the existing literature on mental health and coronary heart disease."

"Objectives:
There is sufficient evidence for a causal association of sinonasal epithelial cancers (SNEC) only for exposure to wood and leather dusts, nickel compounds and employment in isopropyl alcohol production. The aim of this study was to assess whether other occupational hazards are associated with the risk of SNEC for the main histologic types, namely adenocarcinoma (AD) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
Methods:
The study population included 375 incident SNEC cases collected from 1996 to 2014 (79% of all diagnosed SNEC) throughout the Piedmont region by the regional Sinonasal Cancer Registry, and 408 hospital controls. Exposure to 17 occupational agents was assigned through expert assessment based on interviews to the subjects on jobs held throughout their working life. The relationship of SNEC with ever and cumulative exposure to the hazards was assessed through unconditional logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, area of residence, smoking habit, year of enrolment and coexposures.
Results:
AD was associated with both ever and cumulative exposure to wood dust, leather dust and organic solvents, and with cumulative exposure to textiles dusts. SCC risk was significantly increased by ever exposure to nickel, chromium and welding fumes, as well as by cumulative exposure to welding fumes, arsenic and organic solvents. A mixed group of other histological types was associated with both ever and cumulative exposure to wood dust and textile dusts.
Conclusions:
The associations of SNEC with wood dust, leather dust and nickel were confirmed, while some new associations were observed for other hazards, which merit further investigation."