The impact of non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses on mortality

Background

Little research has examined the relationship between non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses, and long-term mortality.

Methods

We linked non-fatal injury cases reported to the New Mexico workers’ compensation system for 1994–2000 with Social Security Administration data on individual earnings and mortality through 2014. We then derived sex-specific Kaplan–Meier curves to show time to death for workers with lost-time injuries (n = 36,377) and comparison workers (n = 70,951). We fit multivariable Cox survival models to estimate the hazard ratio separately for male and female workers with lost-time injuries.

Results

The estimated hazard ratio for lost-time injuries is 1.24 for women and 1.21 for men. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals were 1.15, 1.35 and 1.15, 1.27, respectively.

Conclusion

Lost-time occupational injuries are associated with a substantially elevated mortality hazard. This implies an important formerly unmeasured cost of these injuries and a further reason to focus on preventing them. Am. J. Ind. Med. 9999:XX–XX, © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Association between long work hours and poor self-reported general health among Latin American immigrant and native workers in the United States and Spain

Background

The relationship between hours worked per week and self-reported general health (SRGH) has not been assessed in Latin American immigrant and native workers across host countries.

Methods

Cross-sectional study of the association between long work hours (LWH) (i.e., >51 hr per week) and poor SRGH using data from 2,626 workers in the United States (immigrants = 10.4%) and 8,306 workers in Spain (immigrants = 4.1%).

Results

Both countries’ natives working >51 hr per week had increased odds of reporting poor SRGH compared to those working fewer hours (U.S.: OR = 1.59; 95%CI = 1.01–2.49; Spain: OR = 2.17; 95%CI = 1.71–2.75); when stratified by sex, increased odds also were observed among immigrant female workers in Spain (OR = 3.47; 95%CI = 1.15–10.5).

Conclusions

LWH were associated with differential health outcomes in populations of native and Latin American immigrant workers in the United States and Spain, which may reflect social or occupational inequalities in general or resulting from the 2008 financial crisis. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

http://ift.tt/29JaSeW

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis in a beautician

A 52-year-old non-smoking beautician using a skincare device spraying steam and ozone (a “vapozone” facial steamer) was referred for progressive dyspnea and dry cough during working periods. Although spirometry was normal, she had decreased diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, bronchiolitis with air trapping on high-resolution CT scan and 60% lymphocytosis by bronchoalveolar lavage. Twenty-six antigens were tested and serum-specific precipitins were found mainly against Pseudomonas sp. and Mycobacterium mucogenicum. Cultures from her skincare device isolated Pseudomonas sp. Outcome was favorable with cessation of occupational exposure to the device, without any medication. This is the first report of a case of HP in a beautician due to steam contaminated by Pseudomonas sp. from a vapozone. HP, and not only asthma and contact dermatitis, should be suspected in beauticians with respiratory symptoms. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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FDNY and 9/11: Clinical services and health outcomes in World Trade Center-exposed firefighters and EMS workers from 2001 to 2016

Background

After the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on September 11, 2001, the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) instituted a WTC medical monitoring and treatment program and established a data center to document health outcomes in the WTC-exposed workforce of ∼16,000 firefighters and EMS workers.

Methods

FDNY schedules routine monitoring exams every 12–18 months and physical and mental health treatment appointments, as required.

Results

FDNY research studies have consistently found that early arrival to work and/or prolonged work at the WTC-site increased the risks for adverse physical and mental health outcomes. To date, a substantial proportion has been diagnosed with obstructive airways disease, chronic rhinosinusitis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease; a quarter has two or more of these conditions.

Conclusions

While much has been learned, the entire spectrum and trajectory of WTC-related disorders and their mechanisms of onset and persistence remain to be fully described. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Sex differences in asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease incidence among the World Trade Center Health Program general responder cohort

Background

Asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are two common conditions among the responders to the WTC attacks. This study examined whether the cumulative incidence rates of asthma and GERD differed by sex among 24,022 and 23,557 WTC responders, respectively.

Methods

Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine the sex difference in the rate of onset of physician-diagnosed asthma or GERD, from 9/12/2001 through 12/31/2015.

Results

The cumulative incidence of asthma reached 23% for women and 17% for men by the end of 2015, and the cumulative incidence of GERD reached 38% for women and 45% for men. Comparing women to men, the hazard ratio was 1.48 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27, 1.74) for asthma, and 1.25 (95% CI: 1.13, 1.38) for GERD.

Conclusions

WTC general responders have a substantial burden of asthma and GERD, with higher incidence in women. Am. J. Ind. Med. 9999:XX–XX, © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

http://ift.tt/2a1EFDm

IJERPH, Vol. 13, Pages 722: The Short-Term Effect of Ambient Temperature on Mortality in Wuhan, China: A Time-Series Study Using a Distributed Lag Non-Linear Model

Less evidence concerning the association between ambient temperature and mortality is available in developing countries/regions, especially inland areas of China, and few previous studies have compared the predictive ability of different temperature indictors (minimum, mean, and maximum temperature) on mortality. We assessed the effects of temperature on daily mortality from 2003 to 2010 in Jiang’an District of Wuhan, the largest city in central China. Quasi-Poisson generalized linear models combined with both non-threshold and double-threshold distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) were used to examine the associations between different temperature indictors and cause-specific mortality. We found a U-shaped relationship between temperature and mortality in Wuhan. Double-threshold DLNM with mean temperature performed best in predicting temperature-mortality relationship. Cold effect was delayed, whereas hot effect was acute, both of which lasted for several days. For cold effects over lag 0–21 days, a 1 °C decrease in mean temperature below the cold thresholds was associated with a 2.39% (95% CI: 1.71, 3.08) increase in non-accidental mortality, 3.65% (95% CI: 2.62, 4.69) increase in cardiovascular mortality, 3.87% (95% CI: 1.57, 6.22) increase in respiratory mortality, 3.13% (95% CI: 1.88, 4.38) increase in stroke mortality, and 21.57% (95% CI: 12.59, 31.26) increase in ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality. For hot effects over lag 0–7 days, a 1 °C increase in mean temperature above the hot thresholds was associated with a 25.18% (95% CI: 18.74, 31.96) increase in non-accidental mortality, 34.10% (95% CI: 25.63, 43.16) increase in cardiovascular mortality, 24.27% (95% CI: 7.55, 43.59) increase in respiratory mortality, 59.1% (95% CI: 41.81, 78.5) increase in stroke mortality, and 17.00% (95% CI: 7.91, 26.87) increase in IHD mortality. This study suggested that both low and high temperature were associated with increased mortality in Wuhan, and that mean temperature had better predictive ability than minimum and maximum temperature in the association between temperature and mortality.

http://ift.tt/29ObS7a

Thermal performance of LSF floors made of hollow flange channel section joists under fire conditions

Publication date: August 2016
Source:Fire Safety Journal, Volume 84
Author(s): Varathananthan Jatheeshan, Mahen Mahendran
Light gauge steel frame (LSF) floor systems used in the building industry are made of cold-formed lipped channel section (LCS) joists and lined using gypsum plasterboards. The recently developed LSF floor systems made of welded hollow flange channel (HFC) section joists exhibited superior fire performance in the full scale fire tests. Since full scale fire tests are expensive and time consuming, finite element (FE) models were used in this research on LSF floor systems. In this paper 2-dimensional FE models were developed using a finite element analysis software SAFIR to predict the thermal performance of LSF floors made of HFC joists, and validated using the fire test results. The developed FE models predicted the thermal performance of LSF floor systems exposed to standard fires reasonably well. The validated model was then modified to include plywood subfloor and was used to investigate the effects of important parameters such as joist size, shape and subfloor thickness on the time–temperature profiles of the outer hot and cold flanges of HFC joists. These time–temperature profiles can be directly used to estimate the fire resistance ratings (FRR) of LSF floors made of HFC joists without performing expensive full scale fire tests. This paper presents the details of this thermal analysis study and the results.



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