bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
P.2.15 Exposure to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin and mortality at a trichlorophenol plant in new zealand
Authors: Mcbride David , Collins James , Bender Thomas , Bodner Kenneth , Aylward Lesa 
Published: May 2020

ObjectivesTo describe how 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) exposure influenced mortality in a cohort of workers exposed more recently, and at lower levels, than other cohorts of trichlorophenol process workers.MethodsA cohort study of 1599 men and women working between January 1, 1969 and November 1, 1988 at a plant producing the herbicide 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5 T) with TCDD as a contaminant.A toxicokinetic model developed in a previous follow up was updated to estimate cumulative TCDD exposure for each individual in the study. Calculation of cause-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) compared those never and ever exposed to TCDD. Dose-response trends were assessed firstly through SMRs stratified in quartiles of cumulative TCCD exposure, and secondly with a proportional hazards model.ResultsThe toxicokinetic model intercept of 5.1 parts per trillion (ppt) of TCDD was consistent with background New Zealand TCDD concentrations among older members of the population. Exposed workers had non-significant increases in all cancer deaths SMR=1.08, 95% CI 0.86–1.34, deaths from soft tissue sarcoma, SMR=2.38, 95% CI: 0.06–13.26, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, SMR=1.57, 95% CI: 0.32–4.59, diabetes, SMR=1.27, 95% CI: 0.55–2.50 and ischaemic heart disease, SMR=1.21, 95% CI: 0.96–1.50. Lung cancer deaths SMR=0.95, 95% CI: 0.56–1.53, were fewer than expected. Neither the stratified SMR nor proportional hazard analysis showed a dose response relationship.ConclusionWe found neither an excess of all cancers, or any specific cancer, nor a trend with TCDD exposure. This argues against the carcinogenicity of TCDD at lower levels of exposure.
P.2.16 Health and productivity: a five year study (2010–14) in a large automobile industry in india
Authors: Sukumar Gautham , Kupatira Kowshik , Banandur Pradeep , Gururaj G 
Published: May 2020

IntroductionThis ‘Health and productivity’ project was implemented to identify priority health problems and health related productivity loss in a large automobile industry in India. It hopes to re-emphasize that ‘OH department’ is a partner in productivity.ObjectivesTo estimate prevalence, incidence rates , trends and risk for health problems among employees (year 2010–14)To identify leading causes of hospitalization and out–patient care among employees (year 2010–14).To quantify loss in productive work time attributed to health related absence in year 2014 and forecast to year 2025MethodsA five year records analysis (2010–14) was conducted in a leading automobile industry in year 2015–16. Data was pooled from clinic visit records, annual medical examination , insurance claims and leave records, systematically using employee ID. Trends and incidence rates of leading health risks were computed per 1000 person-months of employment. Leading causes and trends in out-patient and in-patient care of employees were determined. Total work time (man-hours) was computed and health related loss in work-time was derived. Cox-regression was used to assess risk between work department and morbidity. ARIMA method was used to forecast productivity loss till year 2025.ResultsBetween 2010–14, overweight and hypertension were identified as leading health risks. Respiratory, musculoskeletal and digestive disorders were leading causes for clinic visits. Infectious diseases are leading cause for hospitalization. Health related absence accounted for 1.87% of total productive time. Forecasting indicates an increase to 9.31% by year 2025.ConclusionHealth related absence contributes to significant loss in productive work-time. There is scope to reduce these losses by improvement in health situation. Our study provided key information and trends for planning evidence based health promotion programmes in the industry.
P.2.32 Change in employment status in survivors with occupational cancers
Authors: Wang Chung-ching , Chen Wei-liang , Wu Wei-Te , Saou-Hsing LIOU 
Published: May 2020

BackgroundThe aim of this study is to investigate the socio-demographic information and employment status for 2 years after diagnosis with occupational cancers.MethodIn the Labor Registry Cohort of Taiwan during the period 2004–2015, 86 workers diagnosed with occupational cancers were identified. The cancer group included all kind of cancer diagnosed during this period. The cancer diagnoses were recorded according to the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology. Sex, age, industrial classifications, and occupational status were registered for the year 2004. The person’s annual wage and salary income was registered in New Taiwan Dollar (NTD) and divided into tertiles of 16500–22800, 24000–40100, and 42000–43 900.ResultsThere were 86 eligible workers with occupational cancers in our cohort study. All eligible participants were categorized into 2 groups based on their work status. There were 61 unemployed survivors with mean age of 53.05±8.3 and 25 employed survivors with mean age of 46.2±9.2 (table 1). Employed survivors had younger age and lower salary income than unemployed survivors. At 2 year of follow-up (figure 1), there was substantial declined trend for employment percentage (from 100% to 29%). For change of salary income, increased percentage of salary income change was observed. In different age groups (figure 2), young group aged 28–45 years had significantly higher employment percentages than older groups aged 46–55 years and 56–71 years. Notably, there were elevated percentage of salary income change in older group aged 56–71 years.ConclusionOur study highlighted that the workers with occupational cancers had apparent dilemmas in the workplace 2 years after diagnosis.
P.3.07 Prognosis and quality of life in workers with occupational upper limb injury
Authors: Chu Po-Ching , Hsieh Ching-Lin , Guo Yue Leon 
Published: May 2020

ObjectivesBecause literatures about health impact of occupational upper limb injury in injured workers are rare, the study aimed to investigate effects of the injury on workers’ prognosis and health-related quality of life.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study of 206 workers with occupational upper limb injury recruited from two teaching hospitals. Their sociodemographic factors, work-related factors, disease severity, return to work status, psychological symptoms, and quality of life were assessed by questionnaire interview at 2 years after injury.ResultsThe study found that the majority of injured workers were middle-aged (44.0±12.2 years) and men (58.3%). There were 36.3% workers did not return to work at 2 year post-injury. The average EQ-5D was 0.81(ranged from 0 to 1), and the psychological symptoms using 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale was 4.19(ranged from 0 to 20). The multivariable linear regression showed that high educated injured workers had poorer quality of life (β=−0.218, p=0.003) and more psychological symptoms (β=6.35, p=0.001) than those with low education. In addition, workers with longer duration (months) of return to work had better quality of life (β=0.0013, p=0.029) and lesser psychological symptoms (β=−0.05, p=0.002), and the workers’ compensation scheme may explain the inconsistent with previous studies, and further exploration for other reasons was warranted.ConclusionsThe health impact of occupational upper limb injury are multiple aspects, including psychological, return to work, and quality of life. Further studies with longitudinal follow-up are needed to further elucidate their associated risk factors in different stages post-injury, which could be useful for prevention of workers’ long-term disability.
P.3.16 The associations between psychosocial work conditions and work sustainability: findings from a national survey of working people in taiwan
Authors: Li Yi-Jing , Liu Hsi-Chen , Cheng Yawen 
Published: May 2020

BackgroundOne of the aspects of work sustainability concerns workers’ intention to stay at the current job until retirement age. While psychosocial work conditions are expected to influence workers’ intention to stay, its distributions across occupations and the associations with psychosocial work factors have not been well understood.MethodsWe analyzed data from a national survey conducted in 2010, consisting of 11 209 male and 8189 female workers aged between 25 to 55 years old. Intention to stay at the current job was assessed by a single question: ‘Thinking of your health status, would you expect yourself to stay at the current job at age of 60 years old?’. Responses were coded as ‘probably yes’, ‘probably not’, ‘not sure’ and ‘not willing’. We regrouped ‘probably not’ and ‘not willing’ as ‘no intention’. Information concerning age, educational attainment, occupation type and psychosocial work factors were also assessed by the questionnaire.ResultsDescriptive analyses showed that 14.2% and 17.1% of male and female workers did not intend to stay the current job at the age of 60 years old. Lack of intention was more prevalent in younger workers, workers with lower employment grade and workers in certain industrial sectors including electronics manufacturing industries for both genders and health care industry for female workers. Workers in these industries were also significantly younger than those in other industries. Findings from multivariate logistic regression models indicated that lack of intention to stay was associated with nonstandard work shift, higher psychosocial demands, physically demanding work, lower job control and higher job insecurity.ConclusionA substantial proportion of workers lack of intention to stay at the current job until old age. We suggest that improving work conditions may help to keep workers in employment until old age, especially among workers in socioeconomic lower positions.
P.3.18 Association between nightshift schedule and mental health symptoms among factory workers: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Lu Sophia Francesca 
Published: May 2020

IntroductionNightshift is one of the major issues in work-time schedule. The association between working at night and the occurrence of mental health symptoms has been a subject of considerable debate. This study aimed to look at the association between working at night and mental health symptoms, and mediating factors to this association.MethodsThis study looked at a database of 500 factory workers that originally investigated hazard exposures and occupational health of workers in export processing zones in the Philippines. Associations between shift schedule and probable confounders with frequency of occurrence of mental health symptoms were studied using chi-square test of association. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the overall association.ResultsThe study showed that work schedule, work load and occurrence of mental health symptoms are associated with night schedule. The crude odds ratio for the association between shift schedule and frequency of occurrence of mental health symptoms is 2.13 (0.77–5.81). This means that without adjusting for confounders, those who work in the evening are 2.13 times more likely to have frequent occurrence of mental health symptoms as compared to those who work in the morning. Specifically, among females, those who work at night are 2.97 times more likely to have frequent occurrences of mental health symptoms compared to those who work in the morning. Controlling for age, sex, educational attainment, tenure, work load, and exposure to occupational hazards, those who are working at night are 2.13 (0.79–5.71) times more likely to have frequent episodes of mental health symptoms compared to those who work in the morning. Those who are frequently exposed to occupational hazards are 5.78 (1.17–28.71) times more likely to have frequent mental health symptoms.ConclusionThe study has shown that among Filipino factory workers, nightshift work is associated with mental health symptoms.
O1E.3 Evaluation of the norwegian agreement on a more inclusive working life: sickness absence in individuals with musculoskeletal and psychological diagnoses
Authors: Hasting Rachel L , Hanvold Therese N , Merkus Suzanne L , Kristensen Petter , Mehlum Ingrid S 
Published: May 2020

ObjectivesThe Norwegian Agreement on a More Inclusive Working Life (the IW Agreement) was introduced in 2001 amid efforts to reduce sickness absence (SA) and increase work participation. Little research has been done on the effects of this agreement. The study’s aim was to compare SA before and after introduction of the IW Agreement.MethodsData from several national registries involving 115,119 individuals born in Norway 1967–1976 was used. Individuals were classified using ICPC-2 codes into musculoskeletal (code L) and mental health (code P) diagnosis groups. A difference-in-differences method using logistic regression was used to compare the difference in one year risk of SA lasting >16 days in individuals working in IW companies relative to non-IW companies in 2000 and 2005. Analyses were adjusted for age, gender, and industry. Standard errors were clustered at the individual level and average marginal effects were calculated with 95% confidence intervals. Gender and industry specific models were also estimated.ResultsThere was no significant association between the IW Agreement and risk of SA in the overall musculoskeletal diagnosis group (-0.4 percentage points (PP), CI -0.9,0.1), but women had significantly lower risk of SA (-0.8 PP, CI -1.5,-0.1). There was no association between the IW Agreement and risk of SA in the mental health diagnosis group (overall: 0.0 PP, CI -0.3,0.3). Significant associations were found in the electricity (males: 5.2 PP, CI 0.4,10.0) and wholesale/retail sectors (females: -4.9 PP, CI -8.9,-1.0) for musculoskeletal diagnoses, and in the financial/real estate sector (overall: 1.6 PP, CI 0.2,2.9, females: 3.1 PP, CI 0.2,5.9) for mental health diagnoses.ConclusionsWomen in companies with an IW Agreement had a significant reduction in one year risk of SA for musculoskeletal diagnoses. Gender and industry may modify the association between the IW Agreement and SA in musculoskeletal and mental health diagnoses.
O1E.5 Short-term disability leave and employment termination: using marginal structural models to estimate counterfactual risks
Authors: Picciotto Sally , Neophytou Andreas , Cullen Mark , Eisen Ellen 
Published: May 2020

IntroductionShort-term disability leave can be considered as a measure of not being well enough to work. The American Manufacturing Cohort, followed 1996–2013, consists of employees of a light-metal company that provided short-term disability insurance to all employees: coverage to replace wages for up to 6 months of work absence due to medical issues. We hypothesized that since brief short-term disability leave allows workers time to recover from illness or injury without losing their jobs, it should be protective against employment termination.MethodsWe analyzed 18 386 (83% male, 80% white) hourly employees. We censored workers once their accumulated disability leave exceeded 6 weeks because longer time spent on short-term disability leave suggests more serious illness or injury that may prevent return to work. To analyze the effect of short-term disability leave on employment termination, we applied a marginal structural pooled logistic model that allowed for a time-varying hazard function. We adjusted for time-varying confounding by occupational exposures and health-related variables using inverse probability weighting. Using the estimated coefficients, we compared the predicted probabilities (by person-month) of terminating employment with the corresponding counterfactual probabilities if the worker had never taken disability leave. These probabilities yielded estimated survival curves under the two scenarios.ResultsThe average worker was followed for 5.5 years. Approximately 42% of the workers took at least one day of disability leave, and 48% terminated employment during follow-up. We estimated that 1058 (29%) more workers would have terminated employment within 5 years from cohort entry if the company had had no disability leave benefit than were predicted under the natural course.ConclusionShort-term disability leave is a potentially relevant health variable for occupational epidemiologists. This analysis suggests that short-term disability leave can help employees retain their jobs when a temporary health issue prevents them from working.
O2C.6 The economic burden of occupational injuries and diseases in five european union countries
Authors: Tompa Emile , Mofidi Amirabbas , Jung Young , Bree Thijmen van , Heuvel Swenneke van den , Michaelsen Frithjof , Porsch Lucas , Emmerik Martijn van 
Published: May 2020

The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden of occupational injuries and diseases in five European Union countries for the reference year 2015.We used a ‘bottom up’ approach to estimate the economic burden from a societal perspective for Finland, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and Poland. Three broad cost categories were considered—direct health care, indirect productivity, and intangible health-related quality of life costs. The methods started with data on newly diagnosed occupational injuries and diseases from calendar year 2015. We considered lifetime costs for cases across all cost categories. Sensitivity analysis was undertaken to assess the impact of key parameters.Indirect costs represent the largest proportion of total costs (with the exception is Poland), ranging from 66% for The Netherland to 43% for Poland. Intangible costs are the second highest, ranging from 49% for Poland to 21% for Finland and The Netherlands. Direct costs range from 16% for Finland to 8% for Poland.Average per case costing is highest for The Netherlands (€75,342), followed by Italy (€58,411), German (€44,919), Finland (€43,069) and lastly Poland (€38,918). Total costs as a percentage of GDP are highest for Poland (10.4%), followed by Italy (6.7%), The Netherlands (3.6%), Germany (3.3%) and lastly Finland (2.7%). In terms of costs per working population, the value is highest for Italy (€4,956), followed by The Netherland (€2,930), Poland (€2,793), Germany (€2,527) and lastly Finland (€2,331).The economic burden of occupational injuries and diseases in the countries considered are substantial, despite efforts to reduce adverse workplace exposures. Our case costs and total economic burden estimates provide a basis for undertaking economic evaluations of prevention efforts and can serve as a template for monitoring and evaluation at the country level. We advance the methods on several fronts.
O2D.3 Protective effects of PPE use and good workplace hygiene practices against symptoms of neurotoxicity in collision repair workers
Authors: Keer Samuel , McLean Dave , Glass Bill , Taptiklis Phoebe , McGlothlin James , Douwes Jeroen 
Published: May 2020

ObjectivesWe have recently shown that solvent-exposed collision repair workers (spray painters and panel beaters) in New Zealand are at an increased risk of both self-reported and objectively assessed neurobehavioural effects, indicating a need for more effective exposure controls. This study assessed the association between personal protective equipment (PPE) use and workplace hygiene and symptoms of neurotoxicity in vehicle spray painters.MethodsExposure controls including PPE-use and workplace hygiene practices and symptoms of neurotoxicity were assessed in 267 vehicle repair spray painters. Symptoms were assessed using the EUROQUEST questionnaire.ResultsFrequent respirator and glove use was inversely associated with symptoms of neurotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner (p<0.05 for trend). The strongest protective effect was found for consistent glove use (OR 0.1and 0.2, p<0.01, for reporting ≥10 and≥5 symptoms, respectively). A dose-response trend (p<0.05) was also observed when combining frequency of respirator and glove use, with an overall reduction in risk of 90% (OR 0.1 for reporting ≥10 and≥5 symptoms, p<0.01) for those who consistently used both. Protective effects were most pronounced for psychosomatic (p<0.05 for trend, for combined PPE use), mood (p<0.05) and memory and concentration symptoms combined (p<0.05), with reductions in risk of >80%. Poor hygiene workplace practices, e.g. solvent exposure to multiple body parts were associated with an increased risk of symptoms, but this was not statistically significant. When using a general workplace hygiene score derived from a combination of PPE-use and (good) workplace hygiene an inverse dose-response trend was observed for reporting ≥5 (p<0.01) and ≥10 symptoms (p<0.01).ConclusionsThis study has shown that PPE-use and good workplace hygiene are associated with a strongly reduced risk of symptoms of neurotoxicity in solvent-exposed vehicle spray painters. Glove use was most protective, suggesting dermal exposures may be of particular importance in the development of symptoms.
O2E.4 Evaluation of exposure assessment methods in epidemiological studies: the welding example
Authors: Peters Susan , Lavoue Jerome , Baker Marissa , Kromhout Hans 
Published: May 2020

Exposure assessment quality is a fundamental consideration in the design and evaluation of observational studies. High quality exposure assessment is particularly relevant for outcomes with long latency, such as cancer, where detailed information on past exposures are often missing and must therefore be estimated.For the IARC Monograph on welding, the exposure group provided an overview of assessment methods used in the key epidemiological studies. Strengths and weaknesses of each study were assessed, along with their potential effects on interpretation of risk estimates.For the association between lung cancer and welding fume exposure, 9 cohort and 10 case-control studies were reviewed. For ocular melanoma and ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from welding, 7 case-control studies were reviewed. Quality criteria were: full occupational histories, and standardized, blinded and quantitative exposure assessment. Additional criteria for lung cancer: specifically assessing welding fumes and using information on welding tasks. For ocular melanoma: assessing artificial and solar radiation separately, taking into account eye burns, eye protection and welding type.Exposure assessment of welding fumes by applying a ‘welding-exposure matrix’ (n=2) or welding-specific questionnaires (n=3) were considered highest quality, followed by case-by-case expert assessment (n=5) or general job-exposure matrices (JEMs, n=4). Job title alone was considered less informative (n=5). For exposure to UVR, JEMs were most informative (n=2), followed by self-reported eye burns and self-reported exposure from specific welding types (n=2), although caution is advised regarding recall bias. Assessing welding fume exposure or ever exposure to welding arcs as proxy for UVR was considered less informative. For both exposures, ever versus never welder, or assessments based on data collected from proxies, were considered least informative.The overall evaluation was that there is sufficient evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of welding fumes and ultraviolet radiation from welding.