Literature data about all-cause and cause-specific mortality among professional drivers are inconsistent. Most studies report lower all-cause and higher cause-specific mortality. Higher ...cause-specific mortality is most often the result of malignant and circulatory diseases. The aim of our retrospective cohort study was to get a better insight into the mortality, cancer incidence, and occupational disability of the entire professional driver population in Slovenia (N=8,231) from 1997 to 2016 through standardised mortality ratio (SMR), standardised proportional mortality ratio (SPMR), standardised cancer incidence ratio (SIR), and standardised disability ratio (SDR). Total mortality was significantly lower than that of the general working population (SMR=0.49; 95 % CI=0.44–0.55). When SPMR was calculated, however, the risk of all-cause mortality increased to 1 (SPMR=1.00; 95 % CI=0.89–1.12), of cancer-related mortality to 1.13 (95 % CI=0.94–1.35), and of injury-related mortality to 1.25 (95 % CI=0.97–1.59). Cancer incidence was lower than in the general male working population for all types of cancer (SIR=0.66; 95 % CI=0.59–0.72), lung cancer included (SIR=0.56; 95 % CI=0.41–0.73). Occupational all-cause and cause-specific disability were also lower than in the rest of the working population. Even though all types of cancer and injuries were established among professional drivers in Slovenia, no major risk stand out. However, our findings may have been skewed by the healthy worker effect.
As a by-product or material used in various industries crystalline silica contaminates the air many occupational settings. If its fine particles are inhaled, they are deposited in the lungs and may ...cause the development of silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. The goal of this study was to estimate occupational exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in Slovenia and the associated health risks. To do that, we ran two cross-sectional studies, one to determine the number of workers at risk of occupational exposure to RCS in Slovene industries and the other to determine and classify changes in the lung radiographs of glass factory workers exposed to RCS, as a means to infer health risks for other RCS exposed workers in Slovenia. However, the first study shows that official public data on occupational exposure to silica in Slovenia are unreliable and incomplete and that company representatives strongly underestimate occupational exposure to silica. Measurements of total and silica dust are made by 8.3 % and 1.8 % of companies working with silica, respectively. The second study shows that about a third of the exposed workers had lung changes associated with silicosis. We have failed to achieve the goal of our study, as the obtained data are grossly underestimated and unreliable, but it has opened our eyes as to what needs to be improved. All companies need to systematically be informed about occupational health risks, field inspections need to be consistent, regular, and intensified, and health surveillance of all exposed workers implemented regularly.
Health-related absenteeism impacts individuals, companies, and society. Its consequences are reflected in the cost of benefits, substitutes, and reduced productivity. Research shows that ...musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common work-related health problem reported by hospital staff. This study determines the groups at the Ljubljana University Medical Centre that are most susceptible to MSDs, especially low back pain.
Using data from the Health Data Centre of the Slovenian National Public Health Institute and the medical centre, this cross-sectional study analysed absenteeism among medical centre employees. The correlation between MSD / low-back pain risk factors and incidence was determined using logistic regression. An odds ratio was calculated to determine the probability of MSDs, most especially low back pain via sex, age, occupation, and education.
Sick leave at the medical centre is higher than 5%, exceeding the Slovenian healthcare sector average. MSDs, as the main reason for absence, is significantly more frequent in women, non-medical staff, and employees with a maximum secondary school education. Among the MSDs, low back pain predominates as a reason for absence and is most frequent among nurses, midwives, and employees of 20 to 44.9 years old.
This study offers insight into the health status of medical centre employees. The high percentage of sick leave is mainly due to musculoskeletal disorders, including low back pain. This is an important basis for further monitoring and analysis of sick leave indicators and for planning systematic and continuous workplace health-promoting measures to manage ergonomic risk factors and reduce health-related absenteeism.
The early diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma (MM) could improve the prognosis of MM patients. To confirm an MM diagnosis, an immunohistochemical analysis of several tumor tissue markers, including ...calretinin, is currently required. Our aim is to evaluate serum calretinin as a potential biomarker in asbestos-related diseases, especially in MM. Our study includes 549 subjects: 164 MM patients, 117 subjects with asbestosis, 195 subjects with pleural plaques and 73 occupationally asbestos-exposed subjects without asbestos-related diseases. The serum calretinin concentration was determined with a commercially available enzyme immunoassay. Data on the soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRP) concentration are available from previous studies. MM patients had a significantly higher calretinin concentration than subjects without disease, subjects with pleural plaques or subjects with asbestosis (all p < 0.001). The histological type was significantly associated with serum calretinin: patients with sarcomatoid MM had lower calretinin than patients with the epithelioid type (p = 0.001). In a ROC curve analysis, the area under the curve for calretinin concentration predicting MM was 0.826 (95% CI = 0.782–0.869; p < 0.001). At the cutoff value of 0.32 ng/mL, sensitivity was 0.683, while specificity was 0.886. The combination of calretinin and SMRP had the highest predictive value. Calretinin is a useful biomarker that can distinguish MM from other asbestos-related diseases and could, therefore, contribute to an earlier non-invasive diagnosis of MM.
This study examines whether drivers suffering from epilepsy, chronic alcoholism and/or hazardous drinking, psychoactive substance abuse, other diseases of the nervous system, mental and behavioural ...disorders, cardiovascular diseases, severe diabetes, and severe eye diseases are at a greater risk of causing traffic accidents and traffic violations than drivers that cause accidents and violations without these diagnoses.
A case control study was carried out. The cases were drivers checked by a special medical committee in the period observed suffering from the diseases listed above. Matched controls were taken from the cohort of those that caused accidents and violations during the same period observed. The descriptive statistics were followed by calculation of correlations, t-tests and χ
, and the odds ratio.
Drivers with referrals for diseases of the nervous system are five times more likely to cause a traffic accident compared to controls (OR=5.18; 95% CI=2.59-10.34); in addition, a high risk is associated with drivers with mental and behavioural disorders (OR=3.64; 95% CI=1.91-6.94), drivers with epilepsy (OR=1.99; 95% CI=1.01-3.92), and drivers addicted to alcohol (OR=1.71; 95% CI=1.01-2.89).
Drivers suffering from addiction, a disease of the nervous system, or epilepsy are more likely to cause a traffic accident, which is a contribution to the inconclusive findings of previous studies. The multiple reasons for risks of patients suffering from mental and behavioural disorders need to be further investigated.
The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between sickness presence and stressful life events among health care workers.
Data were gathered from all health care workers at the ...University Medical Centre Ljubljana employed there in the period between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2010. Each employee obtained a questionnaire composed of two standardized international questionnaires.
There were 57% of sickness present health care workers among the participants. The sickness present reported to have more diseases of family member than the non-sickness present (OR = 1.5; 95% CI = 1.2-2.0), loan (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.1-1.6), their partner lost job (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.0-1.8), or they changed the place of living (OR = 1.4; 95% CI = 1.0-2.0).
The results of the study indicate that stressful life events with economic consequences might have an important influence on sickness presence.
Organizational restructuring is associated with greater mortality and morbidity of the workers affected by it. We examined the quality of workers’ health at a textile manufacturing company after ...restructuring, comparing three groups of workers: workers who remained (survivors), workers who lost their jobs and later found new jobs (the reemployed), and unemployed workers. A total of 1046 workers participated in a telephonic survey. The data were processed using SPSS and the R package version 1.2 of prLogistic. The differences between groups were calculated using the chi-square test and adjusted prevalence ratios. The comparison between the three groups shows significantly poorer mental health of the unemployed, who more often than survivors and the reemployed reported depression, as well as significant differences in elevated blood pressure, cholesterol level, and cardiac disorders. The reemployed, who were nonetheless in better health compared to the unemployed, reported poor mental health or depression more often in comparison to survivors. Higher morbidity of the unemployed and reemployed could be influenced by numerous factors associated with restructuring.
Presenteeism is a relatively new phenomenon that people, despite complaints and ill health that should prompt them to rest and take sick leave, go to work in any case. The highest sickness presence ...is largely to be found in the care and welfare and educational sectors. The aim of the study is to investigate the relations between different factors and sickness presence among health care professionals.
A cross-sectional study was conducted at the largest hospital in Slovenia involving 5865 health care professionals employed at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana in the period between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2010. Logistic regression methods were used to assess the associations between risk factors and their interactions and sickness presence.
Besides high odds for sickness presence in multivariate modelling for acute (OR = 359.7; 95%CI = 89.1-1452.8) and chronic disease (OR = 722.5; 95%CI = 178.5-2924.5) the highest odds were calculated for poor self-related health (OR = 3.0; 95%CI = 1.9-4.8), no possibility of replacement (OR = 1.9; 95%CI = 1.5-2.3), sickness absence > two times a year (OR = 1.6; 95%CI = 1.2-2.1), disabled workers (OR = 1.6; 95%CI = 1.0-2.5), and lower salary when on sick leave (OR = 1.5; 95%CI = 120-1.9). Risk factors interactions were not found to be associated with sickness presence among health care workers.
The pre-requisite for higher sickness presence is workers' bad health. The results indicate that sickness presence was associated with psycho social risk factors at work and their economic consequences. Continued sickness presence might have negative rather than positive consequences on work and health care professionals' health in the future. Sickness presence needs to be taken into account for health care organizers.
The study investigated the influence of
and
polymorphisms, as well as the influence of interactions between polymorphism and interactions between polymorphisms and asbestos exposure, on the risk of ...developing pleural plaques, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma (MM).
The cross sectional study included 940 asbestos-exposed subjects, among them 390 subjects with pleural plaques, 147 subjects with asbestosis, 225 subjects with MM and 178 subjects with no asbestos-related disease.
rs17883901,
rs41303970,
null,
null,
rs1695 and
rs1138272 genotypes were determined using PCR based methods. In statistical analysis, logistic regression was used.
null genotype was associated with the decreased risk for pleural plaques (OR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.40-0.98; p = 0.026) and asbestosis (OR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.28-0.93; p = 0.028), but not for MM. A positive association was found between
rs1695 AG + GG
. AA genotypes for MM when compared to pleural plaques (OR = 1.39; 95% CI = 1.00-1.94; p = 0.049). The interactions between different polymorphisms showed no significant influence on the risk of investigated asbestos-related diseases. The interaction between
null polymorphism and asbestos exposure decreased the MM risk (OR = 0.17; 95% CI = 0.03-0.85; p = 0.031).
Our findings suggest that
null genotype may be associated with a decreased risk for pleural plaques and asbestosis, may modify the association between asbestos exposure and MM and may consequently act protectively on MM risk. This study also revealed a protective effect of the interaction between
rs1695 polymorphism and asbestos exposure on MM risk.
Objectives. The aim of the article is to investigate the differences in sickness present and non-sickness present in the group of disabled health care professionals.
Methods. Data were gathered from ...all disabled health care professionals suffering from invalidity of category II or III who were identified in the research among all health care professionals at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana and who were employed there in the period between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2010. Each employee obtained a questionnaire composed of three standardized international questionnaires.
Results. There were 248 disabled workers of the II. and III. category of invalidity among the participants. Disabled sickness present reported to have more chronic diseases than disabled non-sickness present (OR = 57.0; 95% CI = 24.4-133.2), lower salary when on sick leave (OR = 13.1; 95% CI = 5.7- 30.2) and poor self-rated health (OR = 5.8; 95% CI = 2.7-12.3).
Conclusions. The prerequisite for sickness presence among disabled workers is their chronic bad health. It is also formally recognized with the degree of disability. Economic factors are among the most important to direct disabled workers towards sickness presence. The results indicate that workplaces are not adapted to disabled workers in regard to their limitations.
Namen. Osnovni namen članka je raziskati razlike med prezentisti in neprezentisti znotraj skupine zdravstvenih delavcev invalidov.
Metode. V raziskavi so sodelovali vsi invalidi II. in III. kategorije, ki so zaposleni v Univerzitetnem kliničnem centru Ljubljana in ki smo jih identificirali v raziskavi, ki je zajela vse zaposlene zdravstvene delavce UKC Ljubljana v obdobju med 1.1. 2010 in 31.12.2010. Izpolnili so vprašalnik, sestavljen iz treh standardiziranih mednarodnih vprašalnikov.
Rezultati. Med preiskovanci je bilo 248 invalidov II. in III. kategorije. Invalidi prezentisti so navajali več kroničnih bolezni kot invalidi neprezentisti (RO = 57.0; 95 % IZ = 24.4-133.2), nižji osebni dohodek ob bolniškem staležu (RO = 13.1; 95 % IZ = 5.7-30.2) in slabšo samooceno zdravstvenega stanja (RO = 5.8; 95 % IZ = 2.7-12.3).
Zaključek. Osnova za prezentizem pri delovnih invalidih je kronična okvara njihovega zdravja, ki je tudi formalno priznana s stopnjo invalidnosti. Ekonomski dejavniki so poleg bolezni najpomembnejši dejavniki tveganja za prezentizem pri invalidih. Iz rezultatov je mogoče sklepati, da delovna mesta invalidnim delavcem niso prilagojena v tolikšni meri, da bi povsem ustrezala njihovim omejitvam zaradi bolezni.
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