There are only a few follow-up studies of respiratory function among cement workers. The main aims of this study were to measure total dust exposure, to examine chronic respiratory symptoms and ...changes in lung function among cement factory workers and controls that were followed for one year.
The study was conducted in two cement factories in Ethiopia. Totally, 262 personal measurements of total dust among 105 randomly selected workers were performed. Samples of total dust were collected on 37-mm cellulose acetate filters placed in closed faced Millipore-cassettes. Totally 127 workers; 56 cleaners, 44 cement production workers and 27 controls were randomly selected from two factories and examined for lung function and interviewed for chronic respiratory symptoms in 2009. Of these, 91 workers; 38 cement cleaners (mean age 32 years), 33 cement production workers (36 years) and 20 controls (38 years) were examined with the same measurements in 2010.
Total geometric mean dust exposure among cleaners was 432 mg/m(3). The fraction of samples exceeding the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) of 10 mg/m(3) for the cleaners varied from 84-97% in the four departments. The levels were considerably lower among the production workers (GM = 8.2 mg/m(3)), but still 48% exceeded 10 mg/m(3).The prevalence of all the chronic respiratory symptoms among both cleaners and production workers was significantly higher than among the controls.Forced Expiratory Volume in one second (FEV(1)) and FEV(1)/Forced Vital Capacity (FEV(1)/FVC) were significantly reduced from 2009 to 2010 among the cleaners (p < 0.002 and p < 0.004, respectively) and production workers (p < 0.05 and p < 0.02, respectively), but not among the controls.
The high prevalence of chronic respiratory symptoms and reduction in lung function is probably associated with high cement dust exposure. Preventive measures are needed to reduce the dust exposure.
Introduction:
In primary coffee factories the coffee beans are cleaned and sorted. Studies from the 80- and 90-ties indicated respiratory health effects among the workers, but these results may not ...represent the present status. Our aim was to review recent studies on dust exposure and respiratory health among coffee factory workers in Tanzania and Ethiopia, two major coffee producing countries in Africa.
Methods:
This study merged data from cross-sectional studies from 2010 to 2019 in 4 and 12 factories in Tanzania and Ethiopia, respectively. Personal samples of “total” dust and endotoxin were taken in the breathing zone. Chronic respiratory symptoms were assessed using the American Thoracic Society (ATS) questionnaire. Lung function was measured by a spirometer in accordance with ATS guidelines.
Results:
Dust exposure among male production workers was higher in Ethiopia (GM 12 mg/m
3
; range 1.1–81) than in Tanzania (2.5; 0.24–36). Exposure to endotoxins was high (3,500; 42–75,083) compared to the Dutch OEL of 90 EU/m
3
. The male workers had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms than controls. The highest symptom prevalence and odds ratio were found for cough (48.4%;
OR
= 11.3), while for breathlessness and wheezing the odds ratios were 3.2 and 2.4, respectively. There was a significant difference between the male coffee workers and controls in the adjusted FEV1 (0.26 l/s) and FVC (0.21 l) and in the prevalence of airflow limitation (FEV1/FVC < 0.7) (6.3 vs. 0.9%). Among the male coffee workers, there was a significant association between cumulative dust exposure and the lung function variables FEV1 and FVC, respectively.
Conclusions:
The results suggest that coffee production workers are at risk of developing chronic respiratory symptoms and reduced lung function, and that the findings are related to high dust levels. Measures to reduce dust exposure should be targeted to factors identified as significant determinants of exposure.
Dust exposure is one of the major risk factors for respiratory health in many workplaces, including coffee factories. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and ...lung function reduction among workers in Ethiopian primary coffee processing factories, compared to a control group of workers. A total of 115 coffee workers and 110 water bottling workers were involved in this study, from 12 coffee and 3 water bottling factories in Ethiopia, respectively. The chronic respiratory symptoms were assessed using a structured interview, using a standardized questionnaire adopted from the American Thoracic Society (ATS). The lung function tests were performed according to the ATS recommendation for spirometry. The coffee workers had a significantly higher prevalence of coughing, coughing with sputum, breathlessness, work-related shortness of breath, and wheezing compared with the controls. The prevalence ratio of work-related shortness of breath (PR = 3.7, 95% CI: 1.6⁻8.7) and wheezing (PR = 3.3, 95% CI: 1.3⁻8.4) was significantly higher for the coffee workers compared to the controls. The coffee workers in the age groups 28⁻39 years and ≥40 years, had a significantly lower forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s compared to the controls in the similar age groups. The findings indicated the need for longitudinal studies on the possible effect of coffee dust on respiratory health of coffee production workers.
Purpose
We investigated which job demands and job resources were predictive of mental health-related long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in nurses.
Methods
The data of 2059 nurses were obtained from ...the Norwegian survey of Shift work, Sleep and Health. Job demands (psychological demands, role conflict, and harassment at the workplace) and job resources (social support at work, role clarity, and fair leadership) were measured at baseline and linked to mental health-related LTSA during 2-year follow-up. Cox regression models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and related 95% confidence intervals (CI). The
c
-statistic was used to investigate the discriminative ability of the Cox regression models.
Results
A total of 1533 (75%) nurses were included in the analyses; 103 (7%) of them had mental health-related LTSA during 2-year follow-up. Harassment (HR = 1.07; 95% CI 1.01–1.17) and social support (HR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.87–0.98) were associated with mental health-related LTSA. However, the Cox regression model did not discriminate between nurses with and without mental health-related LTSA (
c
= 0.59; 95% CI 0.53–0.65).
Conclusions
Harassment was positively and social support at the workplace was negatively related to mental health-related LTSA, but both failed to discriminate between nurses with and without mental health-related LTSA during 2-year follow-up.
Chronic respiratory symptoms and reduction in lung function has been described as a common health problem among textile workers in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this study was to ...measure lung function and respiratory symptoms among workers from an integrated textile factory. A comparative cross-sectional study design with a cross-shift lung function measurement was performed in 306 cotton dust exposed workers from an integrated textile factory and 156 control workers from a water bottling factory. An integrated textile factory typically has four main production departments (spinning, weaving, finishing, and garment) that process raw cotton and manufacture clothes or fabrics. Respiratory symptoms were assessed by adopting the standard American Thoracic Society questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and logistic and linear regression analysis were used. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was significantly higher among textile workers (54%) than in controls (28%). Chronic cough, chest tightness, and breathlessness were significantly higher among textile workers (23%, 33%, and 37%, respectively) than in the control group (5%, 17% and 6%, respectively). Breathlessness was the most prevalent chronic respiratory symptom with highest adjusted odds ratio 9.4 (95% CI 4.4-20.3). A significantly higher cross-shift lung function reduction was observed among textile workers (123 mL for FEV
and 129 mL for FVC) compared with the control group (14 mL for FEV
and 12 mL for FVC). Thus, workers' respiratory health protection programs should be strengthened in textile factories.
Shift work is associated with several negative health effects. The underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are unclear, but low-grade inflammation has been suggested to play a role. This project ...aimed to determine whether levels of immunological biomarkers differ depending on work schedule, self-reported sleep duration, self-reported sleep quality, and presence of shift work disorder (study 1). Furthermore, we aimed to determine whether these biomarkers differ after a night of sleep vs. at the end of a night or a day shift (study 2).
In study 1, 390 nurses provided blood samples after a night of sleep with the dried blood spot method. In study 2, a subset of 55 nurses also provided blood samples after a day shift and after a night shift. The following biomarkers were measured: interleukin-1alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-4, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, interleukin-10, interleukin-13, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, interferon-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Multiple linear regressions with adjustment for age, sex and body mass index (study 1) and ANOVAs with repeated measures (study 2) were conducted.
In study 1, neither work schedule, number of night shifts, number of quick returns (<11 h between consecutive shifts), sleep duration, poor sleep quality, nor shift work disorder were systematically associated with most of these biomarkers. Compared with day only work, day-evening work was associated with higher levels of IL-1alpha and IL-13, quick returns were associated with higher levels of IL-1beta and MCP-1, short sleep duration (<6 h) was associated with lower levels of IL-1beta and higher levels of TNF-alpha, and long sleep duration (8+ h) was associated with higher levels of IL-13. In study 2, IL-1beta levels were higher (large effect size) both after a day shift (14% increase) and a night shift (75% increase) compared with levels after a night of sleep. Similarly, TNF-alpha levels were higher (moderate-large effect size) after a day shift (50% increase) compared to after a night of sleep. In contrast, MCP-1 levels were lower (large effect size) both after a day shift (22% decrease) and a night shift (12% decrease) compared with after a night of sleep.
We found some indications that shift work influenced immunological biomarkers. The results should be interpreted with caution due to limitations, e.g., related to the sampling procedure and to low levels of biomarkers in the blood samples.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a public health problem in Ethiopia. More knowledge about the epidemiology and neurosurgical management of TBI patients is needed to identify possible focus areas for ...quality improvement and preventive efforts.
This prospective cross-sectional study (2012–2016) was performed at the 4 teaching hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All surgically treated TBI patients were included, and data on clinical presentation, injury types, and trauma causes were collected.
We included 1087 patients (mean age 29 years; 8.7% females; 17.1% <18 years old). Only 15.5% of TBIs were classified as severe (Glasgow Coma Scale score 3–8). Depressed skull fracture (44.9%) and epidural hematoma (39%) were the most frequent injuries. Very few patients had polytrauma (3.1%). Assault was the most common injury mechanism (69.9%) followed by road traffic accidents (15.8%) and falls (8.1%). More than 80% of patients came from within 200 km of the hospitals, but the median time to admission was 24 hours. Most assault victims (80.4%) were injured >50 km from the hospitals, whereas 46% of road traffic accident victims came from the urban area. Delayed admission was associated with higher Glasgow Coma Scale scores and nonsevere TBI (P < 0.01).
The injury panorama, delayed admission, and small number of operations performed for severe TBI are linked to a substantial patient selection bias both before and after hospital admission. Our results also suggest that there should be a geographical framework for tailored guidelines, preventive efforts, and development of prehospital and hospital services.
Personality has been hypothesized to act as antecedent as well as an outcome of workplace bullying. Still, investigations on the longitudinal relationship between bullying and personality are scarce. ...We investigated the relationship between accumulated exposure to bullying at work and subsequent changes in psychological hardiness. Additionally, we examined whether hardiness predicted subsequent exposure to bullying. The data were based on the Survey of Shiftwork, Sleep, and Health (SUSSH), a cohort study with annual surveys among Norwegian nurses. The participants who completed standardized instruments measuring exposure to bullying behavior at T1 (2008/09) to T4 (2012) and psychological hardiness at T1 (2008/09) and T5 (2012) were included (
= 938). The results showed that accumulated exposure to bullying (sum of exposure from T1-T4) was associated with reduced psychological hardiness at T5, adjusted for age, sex, and hardiness at baseline (
= -0.16, t = -5.70,
< 0.001). Accumulated exposure to bullying behaviors explained 2.3% of the change in hardiness. Less hardy individuals experienced higher levels of subsequent exposure to bullying behaviors, adjusted for age, sex, and bullying at baseline (
= -0.04,
-2.21
< 0.05). Long-term accumulated exposure to bullying behaviors seemed to be a stronger predictor for changes in hardiness as compared to hardiness in predicting exposure to bullying.
IntroductionAccording to ILO estimates, about 2.3 million men and women worldwide die from work-related illnesses or accidents each year. The category of fishing, farming and forestry industry is ...among the riskiest and most hazardous occupations. Agriculture employs more than one billion workers and 70 percent of child labor worldwide. Fishermen suffer from wide range of injuries and Forest workers can still be found not wearing the compulsory safety equipment and ignoring safety rules.Materials and MethodsThis study aimed at describing national statistics on fatal occupational accidents from ILO (International labor organization) on occupational injuries in farming, fishing and forestry occupations in southeast Asia (Malaysia and Philippines), Australia and selected European coastal countries (France, Spain, United Kingdom and Norway). The data of this study was obtained from ILOSTAT database. The following data was obtained:-Number of cases of fatal occupational injuries per 100 000 workers by economic activity-Number of cases of non-fatal occupational injuries per 100 000 workers by economic activityFor both, I obtained aggregated total data for agriculture, forestry, and fishing, except Malaysia which had only data for fishing.ResultsOccupational injuries were described for the period 2010–2015 and obtained research results show that Australia and Europe had lower rates of occupational injuries than Asian countries. For example, mean rate of injuries in Australia was 15.6 per 100,000, for Spain was 6.2 per 100,000, while the mean rate of Malaysia was 35.5 per 100,000 workers between 2010 and 2015. The data was missing for several years for all countries.ConclusionThe injury rates vary between the different countries. As the data was insufficient, it was difficult to use for preventive measures
Coffee workers respiratory health problems, found to be associated with dust exposure in the coffee factories, but the content of the dust is not well known. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to ...assess the microbial contamination of coffee in dry and wet coffee process, from four farms in two regions of Ethiopia. A total of 36 samples of coffee were collected for laboratory investigation. The microbial load in the dry process ranged from 6.9 × 10
2
to 7.2 × 10
5
colony forming units (CFU)/mL while the microbial load in wet process ranged from 2.5 × 10
2
to 4.6 × 10
5
CFU/mL. The results indicate the presence of gram negative bacteria in dried and stored beans from both the wet and dry process. During further coffee processing possible release of endotoxin from coffee contaminated by gram negative bacteria might affect coffee workers respiratory health. Further studies are required to assess the relation between bacterial contamination of coffee and endotoxin level in coffee factories.
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