Modernet is a network of occupational physicians, researchers, industrial hygienists of different organizations dedicated to occupational health. Our members publish articles on a wide variety of subjects. Here we present some recent articles on MODERNET topics of interest to our visitors. If any of you have articles to “promote” here, please let me know with a link to the article.
Panu Oksa, Riitta Sauni, Nina Talola, Simo Virtanen, Jaakko Nevalainen, Anja Saalo, Jukka Uitti Research Trends in occupational diseases in Finland, 1975–2013: a register study Occupational and environmental medicine
Objectives: The objective was to investigate trends in the incidence of recognized and suspected cases of occupational diseases in Finland from 1975 to 2013, including variations by industry – and describe and recognize factors affecting variations in incidence.
Design: A register study.
Setting: The data consisted of recognized and suspected cases of occupational diseases recorded in the Finnish Registry of Occupational Diseases (FROD) in 1975–2013.
Participants: Altogether 240 000 cases of suspected and recognized ODs were analyzed.
Primary and secondary outcome measures: From the annual workforce statistics and FROD data, we calculated the incidence of ODs and suspected ODs per 10 000 employees. For time trends by the industrial sector, we used a 5-year moving average and a Poisson regression analysis.
Results: Annual average rates of ODs have varied from year to year. The total number was 25.0/10 000 employees in 1975 and 20.1/10 000 employees in 2013. Screening campaigns and legislative changes have caused temporary increases. When the financial sector was the reference (1.0), the highest incidence rates according to industrial sector were in mining and quarrying (9.87; 95% CI 8.65 to 11.30), construction (9.11; 95% CI 9.98 to 10.43), manufacturing (9.04; 95% CI 7.93 to 10.36) and agriculture (8.78; 95% CI 7.69 to 10.06). There is a distinct decreasing trend from 2005 onwards: the average annual change in incidence was, for example, −9.2% in agriculture, −10.3% in transportation and −4.7% in construction. The average annual decline was greatest in upper limb strain injuries (−11.1%).
Conclusion This study provides a useful overview of the status of ODs in Finland over several decades. These data are a valuable resource for determining which occupations are at an increased risk and where preventive actions should be targeted. It is important to study long-term trends in the statistics of ODs to see beyond the year-to-year fluctuations.
M J Seed, N Zarin, R M Agius OPRA reporting online Occupational Medicine, Volume 69, Issue 1, January 2019, Pages 72–74,
Since its inception in 1996, the Occupational Physicians’ Reporting Activity (OPRA) scheme has been an important source of data on work-related ill-health in the UK, both for monitoring incidence patterns and to help identify emerging causes. It is a component scheme of The Health and Occupation Research (THOR) network [1], which also collects data from cases of work-related ill-health reported by respiratory physicians, dermatologists and general practitioners. THOR is based in the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) at the University of Manchester and is partly funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)….
Abstracts presented in SCOM/MODERNET meeting
during EPICOH 2019 Wellington New-Zealand
in Occupational and Environmental Medicine
O5E.1 Gerard Lasfargues et al. DATA ON ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND COSTS OF WORK-RELATED MENTAL DISEASES IN FRANCE
O5E.2 F. Benavides et al. A HOSPITAL OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES UNIT: AN EXPERIENCE TO INCREASE THE RECOGNITION OF OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE
O5E.3 Henk van der Molen et al. OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES AMONG WORKERS IN DIFFERENT SOCIOECONOMIC POSITIONS
O5E.4 Lode Godderis et al. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CLINICAL CASES AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
