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1.
The Effects of Shift Work on Cardio-Metabolic Diseases and Eating Patterns.
Hemmer, A, Mareschal, J, Dibner, C, Pralong, JA, Dorribo, V, Perrig, S, Genton, L, Pichard, C, Collet, TH
Nutrients. 2021;(11)
Abstract
Energy metabolism is tightly linked with circadian rhythms, exposure to ambient light, sleep/wake, fasting/eating, and rest/activity cycles. External factors, such as shift work, lead to a disruption of these rhythms, often called circadian misalignment. Circadian misalignment has an impact on some physiological markers. However, these proxy measurements do not immediately translate into major clinical health outcomes, as shown by later detrimental health effects of shift work and cardio-metabolic disorders. This review focuses on the effects of shift work on circadian rhythms and its implications in cardio-metabolic disorders and eating patterns. Shift work appears to be a risk factor of overweight, obesity, type 2 diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and the metabolic syndrome. However, past studies showed discordant findings regarding the changes of lipid profile and eating patterns. Most studies were either small and short lab studies, or bigger and longer cohort studies, which could not measure health outcomes in a detailed manner. These two designs explain the heterogeneity of shift schedules, occupations, sample size, and methods across studies. Given the burden of non-communicable diseases and the growing concerns about shift workers' health, novel approaches to study shift work in real contexts are needed and would allow a better understanding of the interlocked risk factors and potential mechanisms involved in the onset of metabolic disorders.
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2.
The HEAT-SHIELD project - Perspectives from an inter-sectoral approach to occupational heat stress.
Morris, NB, Piil, JF, Morabito, M, Messeri, A, Levi, M, Ioannou, LG, Ciuha, U, Pogačar, T, Kajfež Bogataj, L, Kingma, B, et al
Journal of science and medicine in sport. 2021;(8):747-755
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To provide perspectives from the HEAT-SHIELD project (www.heat-shield.eu): a multi-national, inter-sectoral, and cross-disciplinary initiative, incorporating twenty European research institutions, as well as occupational health and industrial partners, on solutions to combat negative health and productivity effects caused by working on a warmer world. METHODS In this invited review, we focus on the theoretical and methodological advancements developed to combat occupational heat stress during the last five years of operation. RESULTS We outline how we created climate forecast models to incorporate humidity, wind and solar radiation to the traditional temperature-based climate projections, providing the basis for timely, policy-relevant, industry-specific and individualized information. Further, we summarise the industry-specific guidelines we developed regarding technical and biophysical cooling solutions considering effectiveness, cost, sustainability, and the practical implementation potential in outdoor and indoor settings, in addition to field-testing of selected solutions with time-motion analyses and biophysical evaluations. All recommendations were adjusted following feedback from workshops with employers, employees, safety officers, and adjacent stakeholders such as local or national health policy makers. The cross-scientific approach was also used for providing policy-relevant information based on socioeconomic analyses and identification of vulnerable regions considered to be more relevant for political actions than average continental recommendations and interventions. DISCUSSION From the HEAT-SHIELD experiences developed within European settings, we discuss how this inter-sectoral approach may be adopted or translated into actionable knowledge across continents where workers and societies are affected by escalating environmental temperatures.
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3.
[Recommendations and practical management of pregnant women with COVID-19: A scoping review].
González-de la Torre, H, Rodríguez-Rodríguez, R, Martín-Martínez, A
Enfermeria clinica (English Edition). 2021;:S100-S106
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Abstract
AIM: To compile recommendations and evidence on the practical management of pregnant women with COVID-19 in order to clarify standards of obstetric care in the face of this new disease. METHOD Scoping review based on literature searches in national and international health science databases (PubMed/Medline, Biblioteca Virtual en Salud, SciELO, Cochrane and CUIDEN) and websites, and additionally by a "snowball" system. MeSH terms were used: "COVID-19", "Pregnancy", "Delivery, Obstetric", "Pregnant Women" and "Maternal". As limits in the search Spanish and English languages were selected. No limits were established in relation to the year of publication or type of article. RESULTS A total of 49 documents and articles were detected, of which 27 were analyzed, 18 were used, and 9 were discarded because they did not contain practical recommendations. The recommendations were grouped into 10 subjects: Prevention of infection in pregnant women; prevention of infection in health care personnel attending pregnant women; form of presentation and severity in pregnant women; maternal-fetal transmission (vertical and perinatal); maternal-fetal control of the pregnant woman with COVID-19; control of the severely pregnant woman with COVID-19; treatment of the pregnant woman with COVID-19; management and route of termination of labor; neonatal outcomes in women with COVID-19, and breastfeeding. CONCLUSIONS Lack of strong evidence to support many of the recommendations for pregnant women with COVID-19, as they are based on previous experience with SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV infections. Further studies are needed to confirm the appropriateness of many of the recommendations and guidelines for action in the specific case of pregnant women and COVID-19.
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Occupational kidney stones.
Malieckal, DA, Goldfarb, DS
Current opinion in nephrology and hypertension. 2020;(2):232-236
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Kidney stones are a common and preventable disorder. Certain occupations may increase risk for stone disease which will be discussed in this review. Few observational studies have examined this association. RECENT FINDINGS Some occupations prevent individuals from drinking enough fluids to maintain a dilute urine or to void when they need to. People may have poor access to fluids or to bathroom facilities. These issues pose a risk for stone disease and are exacerbated by those who work in warmer climates. Individuals who do more activity while working, especially outdoors, perspire more, leading to more concentrated urine. In more sedentary jobs, individuals are at a higher risk of metabolic syndrome and therefore have a higher risk for stones. Astronauts, who work in environments without gravity, mobilize calcium from bone, leading to a higher risk of stone disease. SUMMARY Proper fluid intake, more access to restrooms and increased use of potassium citrate may be the best options for those who encounter greater risk for stones because of their occupation.
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[Selected chronic diseases and their risk factors in teachers].
Bortkiewicz, A, Szyjkowska, AM, Siedlecka, J, Makowiec-Dąbrowska, T, Gadzicka, E
Medycyna pracy. 2020;(2):221-231
Abstract
Chronic diseases (ChDs) pose an essential problem from an individual, social and economic point of view. It is estimated that they account for 60% of all deaths worldwide, and this share is expected to rise to 72% by 2020. The most prevalent are cardiovascular diseases (30%), cancers (13%), respiratory diseases (7%), and diabetes (2%). Their major risk factors include unhealthy diet, the lack of physical activity, and tobacco smoking. Of significance are also occupational and environmental hazards. Among teachers, the factor with the highest impact is noise, reported by 25% of male and 38% of female teachers. In Poland, there are no databases on ChDs or risk factors in teachers; only voice disorders are well-recognized as an occupational disease. Only a few studies of health and lifestyle were conducted among teachers in Poland, but they cannot be generalized because they were carried out with different methods, in small groups of people and in various regions in the country. A representative study carried out by Statistics Poland (GUS) among education employees (with no separate data for teachers) revealed that the most prevalent were musculoskeletal disorders, including back-pain (21.9%), as well as painfulness of the neck, shoulder, hand, hip and leg (10% in each case). Headaches and eye fatigue were found in 14.6%; stress, anxiety and depression in 7.3%; and cardiovascular disorders in 4.6% of the study population. Defining health problems in this professional group is an important public health issue which should enable reducing the prevalence and adverse health effects of ChDs. Med Pr. 2020;71(2):221-31.
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Lead Poisoning and Intelligence: A Search for Cause and Effect in the Scottish Mental Surveys.
Krebs, C
Journal of environmental and public health. 2019;:8980604
Abstract
In 1932 and again in 1947, the Scottish Council for Research in Education conducted the Scottish Mental Surveys. Testing two cohorts, one in 1932 and another in 1947, researchers set out to measure-using the same validated test each time-the intelligence of every Scottish child 11 years of age. The stated impetus for the Surveys was a fear that average Scottish intelligence was declining. But when investigators compared the results of the 1947 Survey with those from 1932 their predictions were completely upended. Instead of average intelligence declining, it had risen, substantially. The author argues that based on a study of the relevant ecosystems in place in Scotland at the time the increase in intelligence resulted from a decline in lead body burden. There is no evidence that the children were tested for lead. The decline is thought to have closely followed a fall in occupational lead use, a heightened awareness of the dangers of lead-solvency, improvements in lead plumbing in working-class homes, and a national campaign to improve the nutrition of women and children. Evidence shows that milk consumption in Scotland increased sharply, especially among children, beginning in the mid-1930s, just prior to and following the birth of the second cohort. This provided a source of calcium in a diet that had shown signs of deficiency. Evidence also suggests that lead contamination, from lead water pipes and industrial sources, was widely prevalent in Scotland in the early part of the twentieth century.
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Could exercise improve mental health and cognitive skills for surgeons and other healthcare professionals?
Parry, DA, Oeppen, RS, Amin, MSA, Brennan, PA
The British journal of oral & maxillofacial surgery. 2018;(5):367-370
Abstract
Workplace-related illness is common in the UK, and in healthcare more than five million working days over 10years have been lost as a result. Occupational stress is well known and can affect clinicians at any stage, yet many healthcare professionals continue to work with this or other psychological problems (including anxiety, chronic fatigue, and burnout) as they do not wish to let their colleagues down. Mental health issues might be dismissed, particularly in surgery, because there is a misconception that surgeons can cope better with stress than those working in other specialties, and are better protected from clinical burnout. The benefit of exercise on physical health is clear, but its role in the maintenance of good mental health and well-being should not be underestimated. As society adopts an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, exercise for many has a lower priority than other activities. In this article we give an overview of the mental health issues that might affect doctors and surgeons, and explore how exercise can benefit our well-being and clinical performance.
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Associations of occupational standing with musculoskeletal symptoms: a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Coenen, P, Willenberg, L, Parry, S, Shi, JW, Romero, L, Blackwood, DM, Maher, CG, Healy, GN, Dunstan, DW, Straker, LM
British journal of sports medicine. 2018;(3):176-183
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Given the high exposure to occupational standing in specific occupations, and recent initiatives to encourage intermittent standing among white-collar workers, a better understanding of the potential health consequences of occupational standing is required. We aimed to review and quantify the epidemiological evidence on associations of occupational standing with musculoskeletal symptoms. DESIGN A systematic review was performed. Data from included articles were extracted and described, and meta-analyses conducted when data were sufficiently homogeneous. DATA SOURCES Electronic databases were systematically searched. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Peer-reviewed articles on occupational standing and musculoskeletal symptoms from epidemiological studies were identified. RESULTS Of the 11 750 articles screened, 50 articles reporting 49 studies were included (45 cross-sectional and 5 longitudinal; n=88 158 participants) describing the associations of occupational standing with musculoskeletal symptoms, including low-back (39 articles), lower extremity (14 articles) and upper extremity (18 articles) symptoms. In the meta-analysis, 'substantial' (>4 hours/workday) occupational standing was associated with the occurrence of low-back symptoms (pooled OR (95% CI) 1.31 (1.10 to 1.56)). Evidence on lower and upper extremity symptoms was too heterogeneous for meta-analyses. The majority of included studies reported statistically significant detrimental associations of occupational standing with lower extremity, but not with upper extremity symptoms. CONCLUSIONS The evidence suggests that substantial occupational standing is associated with the occurrence of low-back and (inconclusively) lower extremity symptoms, but there may not be such an association with upper extremity symptoms. However, these conclusions are tentative as only limited evidence was found from high-quality, longitudinal studies with fully adjusted models using objective measures of standing.
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On the use of wearable physiological monitors to assess heat strain during occupational heat stress.
Notley, SR, Flouris, AD, Kenny, GP
Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme. 2018;(9):869-881
Abstract
Workers in many industries are required to perform arduous work in high heat-stress conditions, which can lead to rapid increases in body temperature that elevate the risk of heat-related illness and even death. Traditionally, effort to mitigate work-related heat injury has been directed toward the assessment of environmental heat stress (e.g., wet-bulb globe temperature), rather than toward the associated physiological strain responses (e.g., heart rate and skin and core temperatures). However, because a worker's physiological response to a given heat stress is modified independently by inter-individual factors (e.g., age, sex, chronic disease, others) and intra-individual factors both within (e.g., medication use, fitness, acclimation and hydration state, others) and beyond (e.g., shift duration, illness, others) the worker's control, it becomes challenging to protect workers on an individual basis from heat-related injury without assessing those physiological responses. Recent advancements in wearable technology have made it possible to monitor one or more physiological indices of heat strain. Nonetheless, information on the utility of the wearable systems available for assessing occupational heat strain is unavailable. This communication is therefore directed toward identifying the physiological indices of heat strain that may be quantified in the workplace and evaluating the wearable monitoring systems available for assessing those responses. Finally, emphasis is placed on the barriers associated with implementing these devices to assist in mitigating work-related heat injury. This information is fundamental for protecting worker health and could also be utilized to prevent heat illnesses in vulnerable people during leisure or athletic activities.
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10.
Health Issues and Injury Risks Associated With Prolonged Sitting and Sedentary Lifestyles.
Lurati, AR
Workplace health & safety. 2018;(6):285-290
Abstract
Using a case study, this article reviews the health risks associated with prolonged sitting and the reasons sedentary workers are at risk for musculoskeletal injuries. Other health issues associated with prolonged sitting or sedentary behavior as well as the benefits of exercise are also explored. Finally, evidence-based interventions to reduce health risks associated with prolonged sitting may increase productivity.