Maternal occupational noise exposure during pregnancy and children's early language acquisition.

Introduction: Noise exposure during pregnancy may affect a child's auditory system, which may disturb fetal learning and language development. We examined the impact of occupational noise exposure during pregnancy on children's language acquisition at the age of one.

Methods: A cohort study was conducted among women working in the food industry, as kindergarten teachers, musicians, dental nurses, or pharmacists who had a child aged <1 year.

Work-Related Outcomes in Self-Employed Cancer Survivors: A European Multi-country Study.

Purpose To describe: (i) patterns of self-employment and social welfare provisions for self-employed and salaried workers in several European countries; (ii) work-related outcomes after cancer in self-employed people and to compare these with the work-related outcomes of salaried survivors within each sample; and (iii) work-related outcomes for self-employed cancer survivors across countries. Methods Data from 11 samples from seven European countries were included. All samples had cross-sectional survey data on work outcomes in self-employed and salaried cancer survivors who were working at time of diagnosis (n = 22-261 self-employed/101-1871 salaried).

Paternal occupational lead exposure and offspring risks for schizophrenia.

This register-based cohort study investigated whether paternal occupational exposure to inorganic lead was related to offspring risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). Exposed men (n=11,863) were identified from blood lead measurements taken at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health in 1973-1983. Data on mothers and their offspring born from 1972-1984 were obtained from the national Population Information System.

Association between occupational psychosocial factors and waist circumference is modified by diet among men.

Background/objectives: Occupational psychosocial stress has been identified as a risk factor for obesity, whereas dietary habits have a key role in weight control. We examined whether dietary habits modify the association between occupational psychosocial factors and waist circumference.

Subjects/methods: Data comprised 31-year-old men (n=2222) and women (n=2053) in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966.

Psychosocial factors at work and obesity among young finnish adults: a cohort study.

Objective: To examine the associations between occupational psychosocial factors and obesity among 31-year-olds, adjusting for adolescent body mass index, physical strenuousness of work, and adverse health behaviors (ie, stress-related eating/drinking, leisure-time physical inactivity, smoking, and high alcohol consumption).

Methods: The study population comprised 2083 men and 1770 women from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Obesity was defined as a body mass index of 30.

Selection bias due to parity-conditioning in studies of time trends in fertility.

Background: Studies of couple fertility over time have often examined study populations with broad age ranges at a cross-section of time. An increase in fertility has been observed in studies that followed episodes of fertility events either prospectively among nulliparous women or retrospectively among parous women. Fertility has a biological effect on parity.

Risk of schizophrenia and minority status: a comparison of the Swedish-speaking minority and the Finnish-speaking majority in Finland.

Approximately five percent of the Finnish population are Swedish-speaking and have higher socioeconomic position and longer life expectancy than the Finnish-speaking majority. Previous studies have not investigated whether Swedish-speaking Finns have lower risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) than Finnish-speaking Finns. We investigated this in a representative sample of 47 445 Finns born in 1972-1984.

Increased risk of human parvovirus B19 infection in day-care employees: a cohort study among pregnant workers during an epidemic in Finland.

Background: Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection during early pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage. Studies have inconsistently shown an elevated risk of infection among women with occupational contacts with children. Methodological differences, particularly in defining occupational exposure and in the type of reference group, may explain the conflicting findings.

Early retirement and non-employment after breast cancer.

Objective: This study examined whether workplace support, sociodemographic factors and co-morbidity are associated with early retirement or non-employment due to other reasons among breast cancer survivors. We also compared quality of life and chronic symptoms (pain, fatigue, anxiety and depression) among employed, retired and other non-employed breast cancer survivors.

Methods: We identified breast cancer survivors diagnosed between 1997 and 2002 from either a hospital or a cancer registry in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway (NOCWO study).

Employment participation and work experience of male cancer survivors: a NOCWO study.

Objective: To investigate whether employment status and work experiences, assessed in terms of job resources (organizational culture and superiors' and co-workers' support), commitment to organization, work motives, and experiences of discrimination, differ between survivors of prostate or testicular cancer or lymphoma and cancer-free reference subjects.

Methods: Questionnaires were sent to 1349 male cancer survivors and 2666 referents in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. Valid responses were 59% and 45%, respectively.

Night-shift work and breast cancer--a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: The aim of this review was to synthesize the evidence on the potential relationship between nightshift work and breast cancer.

Methods: We searched multiple databases for studies comparing women in shift work to those with no-shift work reporting incidence of breast cancer. We calculated incremental risk ratios (RR) per five years of night-shift work and per 300 night shift increases in exposure and combined these in a random effects dose-response meta-analysis.

Work ability of survivors of breast, prostate, and testicular cancer in Nordic countries: a NOCWO study.

Introduction: Cancer can cause adverse effects on survivors' work ability. We compared the self-assessed work ability of breast, testicular, and prostate cancer survivors to that of people without cancer. We also investigated the association of disease-related and socio-demographic factors and job-related resources (organizational climate, social support, and avoidance behavior) with work ability and looked at whether these associations were different for the survivors and reference subjects.

Exposure to tetrachloroethylene in dry cleaning shops in the Nordic countries.

Objectives: Tetrachloroethylene is the dominant solvent used in dry cleaning worldwide and many workers are potentially exposed. We report here on results of 1296 measurements of tetrachloroethylene undertaken in Nordic dry cleaning shops 1947-2001.

Methods: We searched documents and files in the Nordic institutes of occupational health for air measurements of tetrachloroethylene.

Exposure assessment for a nested case-control study of lung cancer among European asphalt workers.

Objective: Development of a method for retrospective assessment of exposure to bitumen fume, bitumen condensate, organic vapour, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and co-exposures to known or suspected lung carcinogens for a nested case-control study of lung cancer mortality among European asphalt workers.

Methods: Company questionnaires and structured questionnaires used in interviews and industry-specific job-exposure matrices (JEMs) were elaborated and applied. Three sources of information were eventually used for exposure assessment and assignment: (i) data obtained in cohort phase, (ii) data from living subjects, next-of-kin, and fellow-workers questionnaires, and (iii) JEMs for bitumen exposure by inhalation and via skin and co-exposures to known or suspected lung carcinogens within and outside cohort companies.

Cancer as the cause of changes in work situation (a NOCWO study).

Objective: To investigate the frequency of changes in work situation due to cancer and to analyze the association of physically demanding work, social support from supervisors, colleagues or occupational health services, and disease-related factors, with changing employers due to cancer.

Methods: Working-aged patients with breast, testicular or prostate cancer, or lymphoma with a good prognosis between 1997 and 2002 were identified from a hospital or cancer registry in four Nordic countries. The registers provided data on the disease-related factors.

A case-control study of lung cancer nested in a cohort of European asphalt workers.

Background: We conducted a nested case-control study in a cohort of European asphalt workers in which an increase in lung cancer risk has been reported among workers exposed to airborne bitumen fume, although potential bias and confounding were not fully addressed.

Objective: We investigated the contribution of exposure to bitumen, other occupational agents, and tobacco smoking to the risk of lung cancer among asphalt workers.

Methods: Cases were cohort members in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Israel who had died of lung cancer between 1980 and the end of follow-up (2002-2005).

Pregnancy outcomes among daycare employees in Finland.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether working as a daycare employee increases the risk of perinatal death, pre-term birth, low birth weight, smallness for gestational age, or congenital malformations.

Methods: We conducted a register-based cohort study among daycare employees and women from various occupations of healthcare (reference group). Study subjects were identified from the files of Finnish trade unions and the National Authority for Medicolegal Affairs.

Risk of liver cancer and exposure to organic solvents and gasoline vapors among Finnish workers.

We investigated the association between exposure to various groups of solvents and gasoline vapors and liver cancer. A cohort of economically active Finns born between 1906 and 1945 was followed up during the period 1971-1995. The incident cases of primary liver cancer (n = 2474) were identified in a record linkage with the Finnish Cancer Registry.

Work engagement among breast cancer survivors and the referents: the importance of optimism and social resources at work.

Introduction: Despite a growing number of cancer survivors returning to work, little is known about their well-being at work and the work and personal characteristics related to it. The aim of the present study was to investigate personal resources (optimism and pessimism) and job-related resources (organizational climate, social support and avoidance behaviour) as antecedents of work engagement among female breast cancer survivors and their referents.

Methods: A community-based postal survey was conducted among female breast cancer survivors and their referents.

Parvovirus b19 infection in fetal deaths.

Background: Parvovirus B19 infection during pregnancy can lead to nonimmune fetal hydrops, miscarriage, and intrauterine fetal death (IUFD). Some studies have suggested that parvovirus B19 infection may surprisingly often result in nonhydropic fetal death during the third trimester, in the absence of maternal serological evidence of acute infection. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of parvovirus B19 DNA among fetuses from miscarriages and IUFDs.