Occupational and environmental medicine
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Comparative Study
Comparison of data sets for surveillance of work-related injury in Victoria, Australia.
To investigate differences and similarities between three sources of work-related injury information: workers compensation claims, emergency department (ED) presentation data and hospital admissions data. ⋯ These study findings inform use of workers' compensation, ED presentation and hospital admission data sets as sources of information for surveillance of work-related injuries in countries where these types of data are routinely collected. Choice of data source for investigation of work-related injury should take into consideration the population and injury types of interest.
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The aim of this study is to assess costs, duration and predictors of prolonged compensation benefits by gender in a population characterised by long-term compensation benefits for traumatic or non-traumatic musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs). ⋯ Knowing costs, duration and predictors of long-term compensation claims by gender can help employers, decision makers and rehabilitation specialists to identify at-risk workers and industries to engage them in early intervention and prevention programmes. Tailoring parts of long-term disability prevention and management efforts to men's and women's specific needs, barriers and vulnerable subgroups, could reduce time on benefits among both male and female long-term claimants.
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To investigate the role of occupational exposure to chlorinated solvents in lung cancer aetiology. ⋯ These results suggest that exposure to PCE may constitute a risk factor for lung cancer, especially among women, who seem to have a higher prevalence of exposure than men.
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To describe the prevalence of lung function abnormality and coal workers' pneumoconiosis (CWP) by mine size among underground coal miners in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. ⋯ More than one in four of these miners had evidence of CWP, abnormal lung function or both. Although 96% of miners in the study have worked exclusively under dust regulations implemented following the 1969 Federal Coal Mine Safety and Health Act, we observed high rates of respiratory disease including severe cases. The current approach to dust control and provision of safe work conditions for central Appalachian underground coal miners is not adequate to protect them from adverse respiratory health effects.
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This study expands previous research comparing injury risk for women and men in a cohort of 24,000 US aluminium manufacturing workers in 15 facilities from 2001 to 2010. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the largest single-firm study examining injury risk by sex with sufficient data to appropriately adjust for job. We show a consistently higher injury risk for women compared with men in the smelting and fabrication environments.