Social context for workplace health promotion: feasibility considerations in Costa Rica, Finland, Germany, Spain and Sweden.

We constructed a simple, flexible procedure that facilitates the pre-assessment of feasibility of workplace health promotion (WHP) programmes. It evaluates cancer hazards, workers' need for hazard reduction, acceptability of WHP, and social context. It was tested and applied in 16 workplace communities and among 1085 employees in industry, construction, transport, services, teaching and municipal works in Costa Rica, Finland, Germany, Spain and Sweden.

Occupational exposures and gastrointestinal cancers among Finnish women.

A cohort including all female workers born 1906 through 1945 (n = 413,877) in Finland was identified through the Population Census of Finland of 1970. Incident cases of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract were explored during 1971 to 1995. Job titles in census records were converted to exposures of 31 occupational agents through a job-exposure matrix.

Occupational exposures and cancers of the endometrium and cervix uteri in Finland.

Background: Endometrial cancer incidence rates are low in Asia and Africa and high in North America and Northern Europe. Cervical cancer is often the most common female cancer in developing countries, and infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is its main risk factor. However, other factors, such as occupational exposures may modify the HPV-related risk.

Ovarian cancer and occupational exposures in Finland.

Background: No single occupational or environmental agent has been established as causing ovarian cancer, existing studies often being based on ecologic or proportional mortality data in which potential confounders related to reproductive history have not been taken into account.

Methods: This study linked 324 job titles of occupationally active Finnish women (n = 892,591) at 1970 census with incidence of ovarian cancer (Finnish Cancer Registry, 5,072 cases) during 1971-1995 (over 15 million person-years). The job titles were converted into indicators of exposure to 33 agents, using a national job-exposure matrix based on measurements and surveys (FINJEM).

Breast cancer and occupational exposures in women in Finland.

Background: The etiology of breast cancer is not fully understood. Environmental and occupational exposures may contribute to breast cancer risk.

Methods: We linked 324 job titles from the 1970 census of 892,591 Finnish women with incidence of breast cancer (23,638 cases) during 1971-1995.