Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers
Authors: Haiyan Yang, Li Shi, Guangcai Duan, Yadong Wang
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2019)

In their systematic review and meta-analysis, Sally Hargreaves and colleagues1Hargreaves S Rustage K Nellums LB et al.Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: e872-e882Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar investigated the prevalence of occupational health outcomes (defined as any injury, mortality, or physical or psychiatric morbidity due to an individual's work or workplace environment) among international migrant workers. The findings could help governments, policy makers, and businesses to enforce and improve occupational health and safety measures. However, after carefully checking the data in figure 2,1Hargreaves S Rustage K Nellums LB et al.Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: e872-e882Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar we identified several issues that should be highlighted. First, morbidity among international migrant workers in the study by Arcury and colleagues2Arcury TA O'Hara H Grzywacz JG Isom S Chen H Quandt SA Work safety climate, musculoskeletal discomfort, working while injured, and depression among migrant farmworkers in North Carolina.Am J Public Health. 2012; 102: S272-S278Crossref PubMed Scopus (91) Google Scholar included 118 reports of musculoskeletal discomfort, 82 reports of depression, and 15 reports of working while injured. However, Hargreaves and colleagues1Hargreaves S Rustage K Nellums LB et al.Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: e872-e882Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar indicate that there were only 118 reports for all of these morbidities. Second, morbidity among international migrant workers in the study by Sandberg and colleagues3Sandberg JC Grzywacz JG Talton JW et al.A cross-sectional exploration of excessive daytime sleepiness, depression, and musculoskeletal pain among migrant farmworkers.J Agromedicine. 2012; 17: 70-80Crossref PubMed Scopus (39) Google Scholar included 32 reports of excessive daytime sleepiness, 82 reports of depression, and 16 reports of musculoskeletal pain. However, Hargreaves and colleagues1Hargreaves S Rustage K Nellums LB et al.Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: e872-e882Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar indicate that there were a total of 15 reports for all three morbidities (cases of depression and musculoskeletal pain were not included, as Arcury and colleagues2Arcury TA O'Hara H Grzywacz JG Isom S Chen H Quandt SA Work safety climate, musculoskeletal discomfort, working while injured, and depression among migrant farmworkers in North Carolina.Am J Public Health. 2012; 102: S272-S278Crossref PubMed Scopus (91) Google Scholar and Sandberg and colleagues3Sandberg JC Grzywacz JG Talton JW et al.A cross-sectional exploration of excessive daytime sleepiness, depression, and musculoskeletal pain among migrant farmworkers.J Agromedicine. 2012; 17: 70-80Crossref PubMed Scopus (39) Google Scholar used the same cohort of international migrant workers). Finally, Bener4Bener A Health status and working condition of migrant workers: major public health problems.Int J Prev Med. 2017; 8: 68Crossref PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar reported 399 accounts of medical conditions attributable to back pain among international migrant workers. However, Hargreaves and colleagues1Hargreaves S Rustage K Nellums LB et al.Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: e872-e882Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar indicate that there were only 220 reports of a morbidity among international migrant workers by Bener.4Bener A Health status and working condition of migrant workers: major public health problems.Int J Prev Med. 2017; 8: 68Crossref PubMed Scopus (25) Google Scholar Therefore, the findings reported by Hargreaves and colleagues1Hargreaves S Rustage K Nellums LB et al.Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lancet Glob Health. 2019; 7: e872-e882Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (107) Google Scholar should be interpreted with caution. We hope that this remark will encourage Hargreaves and colleagues to elaborate on and substantiate their presented findings. We declare no competing interests Occupational health outcomes among international migrant workers: a systematic review and meta-analysisInternational migrant workers are at considerable risk of work-related ill health and injury, and their health needs are critically overlooked in research and policy. Governments, policy makers, and businesses must enforce and improve occupational health and safety measures, which should be accompanied by accessible, affordable, and appropriate health care and insurance coverage to meet the care needs of this important working population. Full-Text PDF Open AccessOccupational health outcomes among international migrant workersThe health of the 164 million migrant workers worldwide is understudied;1 only 6·2% of the literature on global migration published between 2000 and 2016 has examined the health of migrant workers.2 The important systematic review by Sally Hargreaves and colleagues (July, 2019),3 summarises the global prevalence of occupational morbidity in migrant workers and reports on employment sector, country of origin, country of employment, occupational health outcomes, and design of the studies included. Full-Text PDF Open AccessOccupational health outcomes among international migrant workers – Author's replyWe thank Kristine Husøy Onarheim and colleagues for raising the role of gender in the occupational hazards of migrant workers, and how gender influences health. We would like to strongly emphasise that, to date, female migrant workers remain invisible to society and to researchers. As such, the rights and protection of migrant women (and girls) are commonly ignored in discussions about occupational health. Our study1 should serve to show that disaggregating results by gender will remain impossible until female workers are fully recognised by labour structures and by researchers. Full-Text PDF Open Access