Mortality in a cohort of Staffordshire pottery workers: follow-up to December 2008.

Objectives: To examine mortality from lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic non-malignant renal disease (cNMRD) in pottery workers exposed to silica.

Methods: A cohort of Stoke-on-Trent pottery workers (N=5115), previously followed to 1992, was traced for vital status and cause of death to December 2008. Standardised mortality ratio (SMR) analyses, comparing deaths to England and Wales and Stoke-on-Trent, examined underlying cause in 1985-1992 and 1993-2008 and mentioned cause for 1993-2008.

Disability among elderly rural villagers: report of a survey from Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Bangladesh.

Background: The study was set up to identify the extent and nature of difficulty with activities of daily living (disabilities) among elderly village residents of Bangladesh, to describe help currently given and to identify possible interventions. It was carried out at Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), a community development organization responsible for the health care of 600 villages with a population of some 1.5 million.

Zinc in well water and infant mortality in bangladesh: a report from gonoshasthaya kendra.

Zinc supplementation reduces the duration, severity and recurrence of diarrhoea in young children. This study examines whether zinc, found naturally in drinking water, reduced infant deaths from diarrhoea in rural Bangladesh. Information was compiled for births over two calendar years with follow-up for deaths within one year of birth.

Epidemiology of malignant mesothelioma--an outline.

In the 1960s and 1970s, well designed case-referent studies put beyond doubt that exposure to airborne asbestos fibres was a cause of malignant mesothelioma. Some 35 cohort mortality studies in a large variety of industries during the 20-year period, 1974-1994, showed a wide range of outcomes, but in general that the risk was higher in exposures which included amphiboles rather than chrysotile alone. Real progress began, however, with discoveries along several lines: the link between pleural changes and mineralogy, the concept and importance of biopersistence, the developments in counting and typing mineral fibres in lung tissue, and data on amphibole mining in South Africa and Australia for comparison with that on chrysotile in Canada and Italy.

Manganese, arsenic, and infant mortality in Bangladesh: an ecological analysis.

Recent studies in Bangladesh indicate that arsenic and manganese in tube-well water may increase the incidence of infant mortality. The study reported here examined whether these findings could be replicated. Data available from some 600 villages under the care of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Gonoshasthaya Kendra included details of 29744 live births and 934 infant deaths in a 2-year period, with age and cause.

Stillbirth in rural Bangladesh: arsenic exposure and other etiological factors: a report from Gonoshasthaya Kendra.

Objective: To use data collected by Gonoshasthaya Kendra, a large nongovernmental organization providing health care to some 600 villages, to describe the epidemiological pattern of stillbirth and any additional contribution made by arsenic contamination of hand-pump wells in Bangladesh.

Methods: Completed pregnancies and outcomes (n = 30 984) for two calendar years, together with existing data on 26 socioeconomic and health factors were selected for study. The health care in these villages was administered from 16 geographical centres; information on the average arsenic concentration in each centre was obtained from the National Hydrochemical Survey.

Risk of arsenic-related skin lesions in Bangladeshi villages at relatively low exposure: a report from Gonoshasthaya Kendra.

Objective: Arsenic concentrations in 25% of tube wells in Bangladesh exceed 50 microg/L, a level known to be hazardous. Levels in individual wells vary widely. We gathered data on arsenic exposure levels and skin lesion prevalence to address the lack of knowledge about risks where the average arsenic concentrations was lower.

Prevalence of arsenic-related skin lesions in 53 widely-scattered villages of Bangladesh: an ecological survey.

A survey was carried out to provide a representative assessment of prevalence and risk of arsenic-related skin lesions in relation to geographical distribution of arsenic in wells of rural Bangladesh as a necessary background for research into effects in pregnancy and cancer risks. A systematic random sample of 53 villages in four divisions of Bangladesh served by Gonoshasthaya Kendra was selected, and all women aged 18 years or more (n=16,740) were listed. Trained paramedics recorded the presence of skin thickening and nodules on the palms and soles, together with information on tubewell use.

Reported incidence and precipitating factors of work-related stress and mental ill-health in the United Kingdom (1996-2001).

Background: Work-related mental ill-health appears to be increasing. Population-based data on incidence are scarce but in the United Kingdom occupational physicians and psychiatrists report these conditions to voluntary surveillance schemes.

Aims: To estimate the incidence of work-related stress and mental illness reported 1996-2001 by occupational physicians and 1999-2001 by psychiatrists.

Incidence and suspected cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, United Kingdom, 1996-2001.

Background: Musculoskeletal conditions are the most common self-reported work-related disease, with high costs incurred from long-term disability. In the United Kingdom, occupational physicians and rheumatologists have been reporting new cases of work-related musculoskeletal disorders to voluntary surveillance schemes since 1996.

Aims: To estimate population incidence rates for work-related musculoskeletal disorders reported by rheumatologists and occupational physicians by occupation and industry, in relation to tasks and movements suspected as causal.

Mortality from lung and kidney disease in a cohort of North American industrial sand workers: an update.

Background: A previously published cohort study of some 2670 employees of the North American sand industry, followed through 1994, provided strong evidence of a causal relationship between quartz exposure and death from both silicosis and lung cancer, after allowance for cigarette smoking and in the absence of known occupational carcinogens. Unexpectedly, a significant excess mortality from chronic non-malignant renal disease [observed 16; expected 7.6; standardized mortality ratio (SMR) 212] was also found, whereas deaths from renal cancer at this stage were close to expectation (observed 6; expected 5.

Reliability assessment of a coding scheme for the physical risk factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Objectives: This study assessed the reliability of a novel coding scheme for physical risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders reported to an occupational surveillance scheme.

Methods: Since 1997 new cases of musculoskeletal disease have been reported as part of a surveillance scheme by over 300 consultant rheumatologists in the United Kingdom; the rheumatologists also gave a short description of the tasks and activities they considered to be causal. With the use of a summary of the activities described, a coding scheme was developed comprising 16 categories of task codes and another 16 categories of movement codes.