International archives of occupational and environmental health
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The question of whether asbestos workers with or without asbestosis have the same risk of lung cancer has not been adequately addressed in the literature. Studies of asbestos workers indicate that clinical symptoms and abnormal lung X-rays are more frequent among smokers than non-smokers, and some studies show that workers with asbestosis compared to those without asbestosis are more likely to be smokers or ex-smokers. Since smoking has a large affect on the risks of lung cancer, smoking habits should be considered when evaluating the risk of lung cancer among persons with and without asbestosis. ⋯ It is unlikely that the higher risk of lung cancer to persons with asbestosis is only due to their higher prevalence of smoking. Some studies have suggested that asbestos workers with asbestosis may have a higher risk of lung cancer, but no definite conclusions can be drawn since dose-response relations were not evaluated. Further studies are needed to evaluate the interrelationships of smoking, asbestosis and the risk of lung cancer.
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Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1988
ReviewAsbestos exposure, pleural plaques and the risk of lung cancer.
Studies which have evaluated the relationship between pleural plaques and smoking have found a higher prevalence of smokers among persons with pleural plaques. Pleural plaques are a relatively frequent finding among persons with occupational exposure to asbestos. Some studies, but not others, have shown that persons with pleural plaques have a higher risk of lung cancer. None of these studies controlled for the effects of smoking, and since smoking is more prevalent among persons with pleural plaques, it is unlikely that the increased risk of lung cancer to persons with pleural plaques, found in some studies, is due to the pleural plaques.
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Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1988
Evaluation of nicotine, cotinine, thiocyanate, carboxyhemoglobin, and expired carbon monoxide as biochemical tobacco smoke uptake parameters.
In a cross-sectional study on 236 individuals in Japan (174 males, 62 females; 149 smokers, 87 non-smokers) plasma nicotine (pnic), cotinine (pcot) and thiocyanate (pSCN), urinary creatinine ratios of nicotine (unic), cotinine (ucot) and thiocyanate (uSCN) as well as carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) and expired carbon monoxide (COex) were determined. All tobacco smoke uptake parameters (TSUP) were significantly elevated in smokers as compared to nonsmokers. ⋯ All parameters except for pnic are significantly correlated with the self-reported number of cigarettes smoked per day. The reason for the poor correlation of pnic with daily cigarette consumption is the short half-life of pnic coupled with the arbitrary time of blood drawing in relation to the last time of smoking.
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Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1985
Effects of record music on hearing loss among young workers in a shipyard.
Effects of record music on hearing were studied by measuring the hearing loss among 175 shipyard workers ranging from 20 to 29 years, who did not have any history of ear or nose diseases, familial hearing loss or ingestion of oto-toxic drugs. There were 120 record-listeners and 55 non-listeners. It was found that there were more high frequency hearing impairments among the ears of record-listeners than non-listeners. ⋯ Failure rates (percentage of ears which had 20 dB or more hearing loss) were 8.4% at 4000 Hz and 18.8% at 6000 Hz. Three factors, "monthly listening hours", "duration of listening to records" and "favourite type of music", contributed to the high frequency hearing loss. The young shipyard workers should be warned against non-occupational noise exposure, such as record music outside of the workplace, because this will significantly worsen hearing impairment due to the occupational noise exposure.
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Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1983
Comparative Study[Behavior of free catecholamines in blood and urine of ambulance men and physicians during quick responses].
Free urine adrenaline, noradrenaline, (additional free plasma catecholamines in the physicians), and blood lactate were determined in 11 ambulance men and 5 physicians to assess stress during medical service. Stress was evaluated employing a stress index, based on difficulties in driving, traffic, severity of injuries or illness. Emergency cases with seriously injured subjects or reanimation were judged to have a 4-fold higher stress index than routine cases where strong physiological or psychological stress was absent. ⋯ This over-proportional adrenaline response may be an indicator for the additional psychological stress in emergency cases. Therefore physicians showed--based on the same stress index--a tendency to higher urine adrenaline excretion and blood lactate levels than the ambulance men, which might be the consequence of the overall responsibility of the physicians. Because of the observed catecholamine responses during medical service, coronary insufficiency or hypertension might be contra-indications for participation in the medical service; regular clinical investigations including ergometric tests are advisable.