Suicide Among Roofers: Injury, Pain & Substance Misuse

OBJECTIVE

CDC has called for suicide research on the construction industry, an industry with a high suicide rate. The present study addresses this gap and focuses on roofers. It assesses which risk factors distinguish suicides by roofers from those of the general population. Alcohol and drug misuse, related to their high incidence of injury and pain, are seen as key potential drivers of roofer suicide.

METHODOLOGY

Data refer to 30,570 suicides and are taken from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). Drawing from previous work on the health professions, 15 core predictors are selected, representing psychiatric morbidity, social strains, and demographics. Since the analysis seeks to differentiate roofers' suicides from others, the dependent variable is a dichotomy where roofers' suicides (=1) and other suicides (=0).

RESULTS

After adjusting for the other 14 risk factors, a multivariate logistic regression analysis found that roofers' suicides were 76% more apt (Odds ratio = 1.76, CI: 1.18, 2.63) than other suicides to have a known substance or alcohol problem that contributed to their suicide. Other constructs differentiating roofers' suicides from other suicides included marital status, gender, and race. Roofers were less protected by marriage.

CONCLUSION

The results inform prevention efforts and substance misuse can serve as a key warning sign for roofers' suicide. This is the first investigation of the drivers of suicide among roofers, and one of a few drawing links between occupational injury and suicide.

[Body compositions characteristic in male manual workers: age as a central factor]

INTRODUCTION

Morbidity and mortality statistics show a shift in the morbidity structure in Hungary. Those diseases have become increasingly common that are related to lifestyle. Detecting health risk factors across different age, gender and other groups is therefore a priority.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study is to present anthropometric variables related to the health status of male physical workers by age groups and to identify critical age stages.

METHOD

Male manual workers (n = 179) were recruited on a voluntary basis. Body composition was assessed using the Inbody 720 instrument. Measured and calculated characteristics included body mass index, relative muscle and fat mass, waist-to-hip ratio and visceral fat. The age dependence of the variables is presented by linear regression analysis, and the relationship between variables was characterized by correlation coefficients.

RESULTS

A significant number of anthropometric variables are not within the healthy range. All of the variables show age dependence, but no critical age or age range could be identified. The relationship between the anthropometric methods is significant.

DISCUSSION

A large number of male manual workers, regardless of age, can be identified as having a body composition that poses a clear health risk.

CONCLUSION

Complex workplace health promotion programs should be launched to reduce the risk. These should include active and health-conscious lifestyles for all age groups. Orv Hetil. 2023; 164(3): 96-103.

Factors related to psychological well-being in unskilled manual workers

OBJECTIVES

The authors characterized the demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial work factors associated with performance of unskilled manual work, and then identified the modifiable psychosocial work factors that affected the psychological well-being of these workers.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study analyzed data from the fifth Korean Working Condition Survey conducted in 2017. The study subjects were 37 081 Korean employees. The occupational classes investigated were: managers, professionals, and clerks; service and sales workers; and skilled or unskilled manual workers.

RESULTS

Unskilled manual workers were more likely to be elderly and less educated, to have low income, to work fewer hours weekly, to have a shorter work duration, to perform temporary or daily jobs, and to report poor subjective health and well-being. Unskilled manual workers were also more likely to experience psychosocial hazards, such adverse social behaviors, a lack of job satisfaction, a lack of support from managers, and a poor social climate. However, with statistical adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, and psychosocial work factors, unskilled manual work was no longer associated with poor psychological well-being, but psychosocial work factors were associated with poor psychological well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

The poor psychological well-being of unskilled manual workers cannot be explained by the intrinsic nature of this type of work. Instead, the poor psychological well-being of these workers is associated with unfavorable psychosocial work factors, such as a poor employment status, a lack of job satisfaction, a lack of support from managers, and a bad social climate. These results thus suggest that the modification of psychosocial work factors may improve the psychological well-being of unskilled manual workers.

Stressors, allostatic load, and health outcomes among women hotel housekeepers: A pilot study

Hotel housekeepers are exposed to stressors at work and outside of work. A minimal amount is known about these workers' pathophysiological responses to those stressors. Allostatic load is a concept increasingly used to understand pathophysiologic manifestations of individuals' bodily response to stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between work and nonwork stressors, allostatic load, and health outcomes among hotel housekeepers. Work and nonwork stressors (e.g., the number of traumatic events, everyday discrimination, and job strain) and health outcomes (e.g., general health status, physical and mental health, and chronic diseases) were measured. Biometric and anthropometric measures and fasting blood specimens were collected. Blood biomarkers included CRP, HbA1c, HDL, and cortisol. Descriptive analyses, correlations, regressions, and t-tests were conducted. Forty-nine women hotel housekeepers participated, with a mean age of 40 years. One-fifth reported high job strain and more than 40% had at least one traumatic event. Chronic conditions were commonly reported, with about 78%, 55%, and 35% reporting one, two, and three chronic conditions, respectively. Correlation analyses showed that reports of high job strain and everyday discrimination were significantly associated with high ALI quartile score (r = 0.39, p = 0.011; r = 0.41, p = 0.004). Job strain and everyday discrimination had medium to large effect sizes on ALI quartile scores. High ALI quartile score was significantly associated with having at least one chronic disease (r = 0.40, p = 0.005), and it had a large effect size on chronic diseases. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore allostatic load among hotel housekeepers. Hotel housekeepers have high exposure to stressors within and outside of their work and experience poor chronic conditions. Allostatic load had strong associations with both stressors and health outcomes. Despite this worker group being a hard-to-reach worker group to participate in research studies, this study demonstrates the feasibility of accessing, recruiting and collecting survey data and blood samples among them to determine health risks and guide future targeted interventions.

Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among immigrant Latino farmworkers and non-farmworkers in North Carolina

This paper evaluates the variability in the prevalence of epicondylitis, rotator cuff syndrome, low back pain, and lower extremity pathology among immigrant Latino farmworkers and non-farmworkers. Data were collected from a study among 272 farmworkers and non-farmworkers. Participants were recruited in eastern and central North Carolina. A physical examination was conducted by trained physicians. Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Latino manual workers is high compared with other workers in similar occupations. Non-farmworkers (49%) had a higher prevalence of MSDs than farmworkers (35%). Epicondylitis (20.2%) and rotator cuff syndrome (19.1%) were most prevalent. Age was found to be significant among those who had epicondylitis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.04) and lower extremity pathology (AOR = 1.07). Latino immigrant manual workers have high prevalence of MSDs. Further studies are needed to identify possible factors that make these populations more vulnerable to MSDs.

Factors increasing the risk of inactivity among administrative, technical, and manual workers in Warszawa public institutions

OBJECTIVES

The research aims to assess the level of physical activity among administrative, technical, and manual workers employed in Warszawa public institutions and to analyze the factors that increase the risk of failing to meet World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study comprised 373 employees of randomly selected institutions. A short version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was applied. The correlation between the mean values of duration, days, MET-min/week of efforts, gender, and type of work was analyzed using the Tukey's honest significant difference (HSD) test, while the correlation between the level of physical activity and the socio-demographic characteristics was assessed with the Chi² test. The strength of the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and fulfilment of WHO standards was expressed by the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The significance level was p = 0.05.

RESULTS

High levels of physical activity were declared by 41.8% of the manual workers, 14.7% of the administration staff, and 7.3% of the technicians; 19%, 31.5% and 54.5%, respectively, reported low levels of physical activity. Factors determining the fulfilment of the WHO recommendations include: the nature of work (p = 0.003), education (p = 0.004), and income (p = 0.003). The risk of being inactive nearly doubles in the case of administration staff (31.5%) and increases more than 4 times in the case of technicians (54.5%). Respondents with secondary school education (31.6%) are exposed to a 3-fold higher risk of inactivity, while in respondents with higher education (37.2%), the level of the risk is 4-fold higher. Compared to those in the highest income group (23.4%), people who earn less (34.1%) are inactive almost twice as often.

CONCLUSIONS

Urgent intervention is necessary in all studied groups: increased energy expenditure for recreation and locomotion, educational offers of employers to promote healthy lifestyle, management of leisure time budget, and strategies for changing behavior.

Carpal tunnel syndrome: primary care and occupational factors

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) affects about 1% of working-aged people and is the commonest cause of hand pain in manual workers. CTS is a clinical diagnosis and does not warrant any further investigation in the presence of mild and suggestive CTS. Although the recommended non-surgical management is still a matter of debate, nocturnal splinting or steroid injection are recommended in most countries, with strong to moderate level of evidence for short-term efficacy. Patients with an uncertain diagnosis or severe symptoms, should undergo nerve conduction studies with referral to a hand specialist.

Self-reported skin symptoms and skin-related quality of life among Latino immigrant poultry processing and other manual workers

BACKGROUND

Manual labor employment occurs in environments with exposures likely to impact skin-related quality of life (SRQOL).

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this paper are to (1) document the dimensions of SRQOL, (2) examine its association with skin symptoms, and (3) identify the predictors of SRQOL in Latino manual workers.

METHODS

A population-based survey of 733 Latino manual workers obtained Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and skin symptoms in the prior year.

RESULTS

Two-thirds of workers were employed in production. Skin symptoms in prior year were reported by 23%. Impaired SRQOL was reported by 23%. In multivariate analyses, reduced SRQOL was associated with age, occupation, childhood indigenous language use, and experience of skin symptoms in the prior year.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite overall high SRQOL exposures in some immigrant occupational groups produce reduce SRQOL. This rural, immigrant population faces significant obstacles to obtaining dermatological care; efforts are needed to improve their SRQOL.

Association between work conditions and smoking in South Korea

Background

A variety of sociodemographic factors, such as gender, age, household income, and educational level, influence individuals' likelihood of smoking. Work-related factors may also be linked to smoking behavior. We sought to investigate the relationship between smoking and work environment in South Korea.

Methods

We analyzed data from the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to determine whether there was an association between smoking and occupation type (e.g., manual, nonmanual, or service work), night-shift work, and hours worked/week (e.g., <40, 40–48, 49–60, or >60 hours) for 4,685 workers. Regression models were adjusted for sociodemographic variables such as age, recent alcohol consumption, hours slept, educational level, and household income.

Results

The prevalence of smoking was 50.1% in men and 7.2% in women. For women, manual workers had 2.34 times [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.02–5.36] greater odds of smoking compared with nonmanual workers, whereas service workers had 2.37 times greater odds (95% CI: 1.28–4.40). Furthermore, women who worked 49–60 hours had 2.21 times greater odds of smoking (95% CI: 1.10–3.75) as compared with women who worked 40–48 hours.

Conclusion

Women who work long hours or who are employed in service or manual positions are more likely to smoke. These results indicate a need in South Korea to target these specific groups when creating nonsmoking policies.