Psychosocial and clinical risk factor profiles in managers.

Objectives: Over the past 10 years the IAS Foundation has performed more than 15,000 PREVENT check-ups on managers. In addition to a comprehensive clinical program of preventive examinations, the main emphasis is placed on extensive counseling. This counseling centres not only on personal behaviour patterns affecting the individual's health, but also on the psychomental capabilities of the patient within the context of the psychosocial stresses in managerial positions.

[Rate of absenteeism--value and modification by work disability data].

Data on pre-retirement invalidity and incapacity to work are simple process-data gathered from routine procedures within our social system. It is therefore an obvious step to use them in describing the prevalent morbidity and relations between work and the incidence of illnesses. However, closer examinations have shown that the analysis of such secondary data does not provide particularly well-founded results, especially regarding causal relations between work itself and the so-called work-related diseases.

[Cost-benefit analysis of practical occupational medicine service].

Cost problems in business, industry and government service force everyone to probe into the economy of traditional patterns of work and procedures. Occupational medicine is no exception. However, there has been a lack of criteria for assessing the economic aspects of occupational medicine.

External and internal antimony exposure in starter battery production.

In the production of lead batteries two antimony compounds occur: in the casting of grids antimony trioxide (Sb2O3), and in the formation of lead plates stibine (SbH3). Seven workers from the grid-casting area and 14 workers from the formation area were examined with regard to the antimony concentration in blood (Sb-B) and urine (Sb-U). Antimony air concentrations (Sb-A) were measured by means of personal air samplers.

Changes in external and internal lead load in different working areas of a starter battery production plant in the period 1982 to 1991.

Our investigation was based on routine ambient and biological monitoring data in a starter battery production plant from 1982 to 1991. This retrospective longitudinal study included 134 blue collar workers in seven main production areas (casting, lead oxide production, bunker, pasting, formation, plate stacking, assembly). Over the whole period a statistically significant decrease in blood lead concentration in the whole sample, from 48.

Lead exposure in starter battery production: investigation of the correlation between air lead and blood lead levels.

The threshold limit value (TLV) for lead (in Germany, the MAK value) is based on a certain blood lead concentration (in Germany BAT value = biological tolerance value for working materials) that is not to be exceeded; thereby a statistically significant association between air lead (PbA) and blood lead (PbB) is assumed. On the basis of a 10-year period of (1982-1991) biological and ambient monitoring of 134 battery factory staff and their workplaces, a PbA/PbB correlation with the regression equation PbB = 62.183 + 21.

Identification and prevention of work-related diseases and premature incapacity.

In many cases, the increasing knowledge about the causes of occupational diseases has led to improved preventive actions at the working place. This made it possible to achieve a general decrease in the incidence of occupational diseases--except for some illnesses such as asbestos-related and obstructive lung diseases. An opposite trend can be noticed in the field of work-related illnesses, which especially includes cardiovascular, psychiatric and psychovegetative diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders.

[Social dependence of early retirement statistics].

In the current discussion of health care policy, the trend in early retirement figures is frequently taken as an indicator of the efficiency of the health care services in our country, or of the disease promoting factors at the workplace. The present study shows that no such direct monitoring of these two problem complexes by reference to the early retirement figures is possible. On the contrary, the high degree of dependence of these figures on social factors is demonstrated.

The influence of passive smoking on pulmonary function--a study of 1,351 office workers.

Until now it has been difficult to ascertain how much passive inhalation of tobacco smoke affects bronchopulmonary function. To answer this question, an investigation involving 1,351 white collar workers was carried out. Information about active and passive tobacco smoke exposure was obtained by a standardized questionnaire.