Associations between occupational factors and self-rated health in the national Brazilian working population

Insufficient Workplace Infection Control and Unhealthy Lifestyle Behaviors Are Related to Poor Self-Rated Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated whether workers who practiced unhealthy lifestyles but worked under organizations with insufficient control against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) would pose a synergistic risk of poor self-rated health (SRH).

METHODS

A total of 22,637 workers (men, 48.5%) were extracted from an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan (December 2020). Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate adjusted odds ratio (AOR) against poor (poor, fair) SRH.

RESULTS

Accumulation of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors (AOR, 1.49 to 4.40; P < 0.05) and insufficient infection control (AOR, 1.80; P < 0.05) were independently related to poor SRH; however, when these factors were combined, SRH was additively worsened (AOR, 2.14 to 7.72; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights that not only unhealthy lifestyle practices but also poor organizational management against infection would worsen workers' SRH during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ultra-processed food consumption is positively associated with the incidence of depression in Brazilian adults (CUME project)

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between the consumption of ultra-processed food and the incidence of depression in Brazilian adults.

METHODS

This longitudinal study included 2572 participants (M = 936 and F = 1636, mean age of 36.1 years) from the Cohort of Universities of Minas Gerais - CUME Project, Brazil. Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption (in % of daily energy intake, DEI), as defined by the NOVA food classification system, was assessed at baseline using a validated semi-quantitative 144-item food frequency questionnaire. Participants were classified as incident cases of depression if they reported a medical diagnosis of depression in at least one of the follow-up questionnaires. Crude and adjusted cox regression models were used to assess the relationship between UPF consumption and the incidence of depression.

RESULTS

After a mean of follow-up of 2,96 years, a total of 246 incident cases of depression were identified. The mean consumption of UPF was 44 g/d or 24 % of DEI. Participants in the highest quartile of UPF consumption (31 to 72 % of DEI) had a higher risk of developing depression (HR = 1.82 95 % CI = 1.15-2.88) than those in the lowest quartile (0 to 16 % of DEI) after adjusting for potential confounders.

CONCLUSION

Higher UPF consumption is a risk factor of depression incidence in Brazilian adults with high education level.

Occupational Disease and Injury in Malaysia: A Thematic Review of Literature from 2016 to 2021

Introduction

Working people are exposed to occupational hazards and are at risk of having occupational disease or injury in a rapidly industrializing country like Malaysia. This study aims to review and summarize the occupational disease and injury in Malaysia from 2016 to 2021.

Methods

This study used PubMed and Scopus databases to conduct a systematic literature search using a set of keywords. The selected records dated from 1 January 2016 to 8 September 2021 were extracted into the Mendeley Desktop and ATLAS.ti 8 software. Systematic screening was conducted by two independent researchers and finalized by the third researcher. Data were coded and grouped according to the themes. The results were presented as the table for descriptive analysis and cross-tabulation between the themes.

Results

A total of 120 records were included in this study. Under the theme of main health problems, the findings showed that mental health, infectious disease, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders are the top three problems being discussed in the literature for the working people in Malaysia. The findings also showed an increasing trend of mental health problems during pandemic COVID-19 years. In addition, hospital was the highest workplace where the occupational health problems were reported.Discussion/Conclusion. There was substantial work on the mental health problem, infectious diseases, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders as the main health problem among workers in Malaysia in the past five years. The employers must report any occupational health and injury case to the authority and prompt intervention can be initiated.

Comparing the occurrence of chronic physical disorders in self-employed individuals with that of employees: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

A stringent systematic review of population-based observational studies focusing on the physical health of self-employed individuals as a basis for the development of targeted prevention strategies is lacking.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to systematically evaluate all the studies of good quality that compared the occurrence of chronic physical disorders in self-employed individuals with that of employees.

METHODS

We searched three major medical databases (MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase) following the Cochrane guidelines. The quality of the studies was rated based on the slightly modified validated assessment tool that was developed by Hoy et al.RESULTS:We included 16 population-based studies of good quality, with data from 15,369,964 participants in total. The two longitudinal evaluations of Swedish national registers with the longest follow-up periods showed increased cardiovascular mortality and incidence estimates of cardiovascular disease in self-employed individuals compared with those of white-collar (i.e., nonmanual) employees but decreased risk estimates compared with those of blue-collar (i.e., manual) workers. The results of the shorter cohort studies were heterogeneous. In cross-sectional studies, prevalence estimates for musculoskeletal, respiratory and malignant diseases were higher among self-employed individuals than among employees.

CONCLUSION

The long-term cardiovascular disease risk and mortality of self-employed individuals seemed to be higher than those of white-collar employees but lower than those of blue-collar employees. As a basis for targeted prevention strategies, further longitudinal studies in different settings are required to better understand the development of physical health disorders for specific self-employment categories such as sole proprietors, small entrepreneurs, family businesses and others.

Work Stressors and Occupational Health of Young Employees: The Moderating Role of Work Adaptability

Work adaptability refers to the work experience, habits, and skills that enable an individual to adapt to current or changing work tasks and situations. It is a coping resource that individuals use to mitigate various types of stress. Adopting the interaction model of work stress, this study investigated 168 young employees in 20 organizations in Zhejiang Province through interview research and a questionnaire survey. The results show that work adaptability has a significant main effect on occupational health. The work adaptability of employees plays a moderating role in the relationship between occupational health and lack of work meaning stress, role conflict stress, interpersonal relationship stress, negative organizational atmosphere stress, and total score of work stressors. Young employees with high work adaptability have worse occupational health under high-level stress situations due to a lack of work meaning. For promoting occupational health in young employees, organizations should have this group of workers complete meaningful jobs or inform them of the importance of their jobs, reduce role conflict, and create a supportive organizational atmosphere. For management, it is imperative to eliminate high-level stress that stems from a lack of work meaning in order to retain young employees with high work adaptability. These findings shed light on how work adaptability helps young employees deal with stress and improve their occupational health. In organizational and self-stress management, it is beneficial to improve employees’ work adaptability continuously as a means of effectively resisting stress and maintaining occupational health.

Effects of Serving as a State Functionary on Self-Rated Health: Empirical Evidence From China

Purpose

There is a strong link between occupation and self-rated health. Existing research has revealed the effects of occupation on self-rated health outcomes and the corresponding mechanisms. However, there is a lack of research on the effects of state services on self-rated health in China. Therefore, this study focuses on exploring the effects of serving as a state functionary in China on self-rated health to enrich research in related fields.

Method

Based on the data of 14,138 individuals collected from the 2016 China Labour-Force Dynamics Survey, the logit model was used to investigate the effects of serving as a state functionary on self-rated health and the difference in the effects across different populations.

Results

The results show that (1) serving as a state functionary has a significant positive effect on self-rated health; (2) self-rated health of elderly state functionaries is higher than that of younger state functionaries; (3) self-rated health of state functionaries in non-eastern regions is higher than that of state functionaries in eastern regions; and (4) state functionaries with lower education have higher self-rated health than highly-educated state functionaries; (5) Higher self-rated health of state functionaries is achieved primarily through better work time, better work environment and lower relative deprivation.

Conclusion

Serving as a state functionary in China has a significant positive correlation with self-rated health, with differences across populations of state functionaries. This study expands the current literature on the effects of occupation on self-rated health in the context of China.

[Self-reported hearing impairment and occupational exposure to hazardous noise and ototoxic agents: a population-based study]

This study's objective was to estimate the association between self-reported hearing impairment and occupational exposure to hazardous noise and ototoxic agents in Brazilian workers. This was a cross-sectional study with data from the Brazilian National Health Survey (PNS-2013). The dependent variable was self-reported hearing impairment, and three principal exposures were analyzed: noise, industrial dust, and chemical substances. Logistic regression was performed, estimating crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). The principal exposure variables were adjusted for each other and by covariables sex, age, workplace, time on the job, and hypertension. 36,442 workers participated in the study. Higher prevalence of hearing impairment was seen in workers exposed to industrial dust (9.9%) (p < 0.001). The older the worker and the longer the time on the job, the higher the prevalence of hearing impairment (p < 0.001). In the adjusted analysis, workers exposed to noise showed 1.65 higher odds of reporting difficulty hearing, when compared to unexposed individuals (p < 0.001). The same was true for workers exposed to industrial dust (OR = 1.36) (p = 0.012). No association was observed between the outcome and exposure to chemical substances (p = 0.120). There was an association between hearing impairment and occupational exposure to noise and industrial dust in Brazilian workers. This emphasizes the importance of strengthening public policies for hearing health and the development of measures for prevention and auditory monitoring in the workplace.

Self-rated health among teachers: prevalence, predictors, and impact on absenteeism, presenteeism, and sick leave

Introduction

Self-rated health is an important indicator of health in the population, but among teachers, predictive sociodemographic, occupational, and health variables and the impact of self-rated health on absenteeism, presenteeism, and sick-leave are unknown.

Objectives

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with poor self-rated health among elementary school teachers and to investigate whether poor self-rated health can predict absenteeism, presenteeism, and sick leave.

Methods

The sample comprised 493 elementary school teachers from Londrina, Paraná, Brazil. A self-report questionnaire was used to assess self-rated health and sociodemographic, occupational, and lifestyle factors, health indicators, chronic diseases, disabilities, and number of days of absenteeism, presenteeism, and sick leave. Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios and rate ratios.

Results

The prevalence of poor self-rated health was 16.4% and the variables positively associated with this outcome were health insurance (prevalence ratio = 2.35), inadequate school infrastructure (prevalence ratio = 1.56), physical activity (prevalence ratio = 0.60), poor perceived fitness (prevalence ratio = 2.44), voice disorders (prevalence ratio =1.46), common mental disorders (prevalence ratio = 1.74), emotional exhaustion (prevalence ratio = 1.61), low personal accomplishment (prevalence ratio = 1.64), chronic disease (prevalence ratio = 2.39), and disability (prevalence ratio = 1.57). Poor self-rated health was positively associated with both absenteeism (rate ratio=1.71) and presenteeism (rate ratio = 1.74).

Conclusions

Occupational and individual characteristics associated with impaired physical and mental health should be targeted to improve self-rated health among teachers. Furthermore, a single question on self-rated health is a useful tool for monitoring and preventing absenteeism and presenteeism among teachers.

Elaboração e validação de um instrumento para mensurar Autopercepção de Saúde em adultos

RESUMO Elaborar um instrumento para mensurar a Autopercepção de Saúde (APS) em adultos e sua validação por especialistas. Estudo metodológico composto de duas fases: a primeira foi a elaboração do instrumento, a partir de revisão da literatura; a segunda, de validação de conteúdo, mediante a avaliação do instrumento por nove especialistas, profissionais da saúde. Para análise, calculou-se o Índice de Validade de Conteúdo (IVC=0,78), o teste binomial (p>0,05) e o coeficiente Kappa (=0,61). Inicialmente, o instrumento foi composto por 25 itens, dispostos em três dimensões. Um item foi eliminado (IVC=0,56) e três perguntas foram adicionadas por sugestão dos especialistas. Ao final, o instrumento foi organizado em 26 itens divididos em três dimensões. O IVC total do instrumento foi de 0,84 e Kappa igual a 0,83. O instrumento apresentou IVC satisfatório e apto para análise semântica e posterior validação externa.

Association between perceived stress and health-risk behaviours in workers

Individuals who experience stress can engage in health-risk behaviours that may decrease work performance. The aim of this study was to determine perceived stress levels in Brazilian workers and verify whether perceived stress was associated with health-risk behaviours. Stress levels of 1,270 workers (1,019 men, 251 women) were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale. The health-risk behaviours investigated were low intake of vegetables and fruits, daily smoking, high-risk alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, and the presence of obesity. The Student's t-test or one-way analysis of variance was used to assess differences in stress levels. Ordinal regression was used to determine the association between the degrees of stress and health-risk behaviours. Women had higher perceived stress levels than men. In addition, perceived stress levels were higher in those who had low socioeconomic status, were unmarried, had a negative perception of their health, were smokers, or had obesity. Smoking and the presence of two or more health-risk behaviours were associated with 1.84 (95% CI: 1.24-2.73) times and 1.49 (95% CI: 1.18-1.89) times higher odds of experiencing higher degrees of stress, respectively. In women, such an association was observed with the presence of obesity (odds ratio: 2.0; 95% CI: 1.01-3.98).