Efficacy of an indicated prevention strategy on sickness absence and termination of the employment contract: a 5-year follow-up study.

Objective: It was shown that an indicated prevention strategy (IPS), based on screening and early intervention, can considerably decrease future risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA>28 days) over one year. Given the nature of the interventions, the potential of an effect extending beyond the original one year of follow-up might be present. This study aims to determine the efficacy of this IPS on LTSA and termination of employment contract over five years by extended follow up of IPS trials.

Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality Among Working Individuals With Rheumatic Disease: Results From a Large Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Cardiovascular comorbidities are common in rheumatic diseases and are associated with an increased mortality risk but have not been studied in a working population, with less severe disease. Also, the impact of premature cardiovascular mortality on work participation has been neglected until now.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the cardiovascular risk in working individuals with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and to explore whether cardiovascular morbidity and mortality are associated with decreased work participation in this population.

Effects of cardiovascular comorbidities on work participation in rheumatic diseases: a prospective cohort study among working individuals.

Objective: To determine the risk of sick leave and work disability in relation to rheumatic diseases and cardiovascular comorbidities among working individuals.

Methods: Employees (n = 12,140) from 45 companies in The Netherlands were prospectively followed up from 1998-2008. Questionnaires were used to assess self-reported diseases and employment status.

Cancer risk among tetrafluoroethylene synthesis and polymerization workers.

Tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), a compound used for the production of fluorinated polymers including polytetrafluoroethylene, increases the incidence of liver and kidney cancers and leukemia in rats and mice. This is the first time the cancer risk in humans has been explored comprehensively in a cohort mortality study (1950-2008) that included all polytetrafluoroethylene production sites in Europe and North America at the time it was initiated. A job-exposure matrix (1950-2002) was developed for TFE and ammonium perfluoro-octanoate, a chemical used in the polymerization process.

The association between study characteristics and outcome in the relation between job stress and cardiovascular disease - a multilevel meta-regression analysis.

Objectives: Studies about job strain and cardiovascular disease (CVD) have yielded inconsistent results, which hinders making a firm conclusion about the association. Inconsistent findings may be the result of methodological differences. If the relative CVD risk is influenced by methodological differences, these differences should be explored in more detail in future research to clarify which methodological characteristics are inherent to obtain the most accurate estimate between job strain and CVD risk.

The mutual relationship between shift work and depressive complaints--a prospective cohort study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine longitudinally the mutual relationship between shift work and depressive complaints.

Methods: Data from the ongoing Maastricht cohort study (1998-2008) were used. Firstly, the impact of shift work on the development of depressive complaints, defined as depressed mood, was studied.

Prevention of long-term sickness absence and major depression in high-risk employees: a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To examine the efficacy of early intervention on the prevention of long-term sickness absence and major depression among employees at high risk of future sickness absence and with mild to severe depressive complaints.

Methods: Randomised controlled trial conducted among employees working in an office environment. 139 employees were identified both at high risk of future sickness absence and with mild to severe depressive complaints through screening.

Depressed mood in the working population: associations with work schedules and working hours.

The impact of working time arrangements (WTA) on health has been studied extensively. Still, little is known about the interrelation between work schedules, working hours, and depressed mood. For work schedules, the underlying assumptions regarding depressed mood refer to a disturbance of social and biological rhythms, whereas for working hours, the assumptions relate to workload and work capacity.

Changes in working time arrangements over time as a consequence of work-family conflict.

Existing longitudinal studies on the relationship between working time arrangements (WTA) and work-family conflict have mainly focused on the normal causal relationship, that is, the impact of WTA on work-family conflict over time. So far, however, the reversed relationship, that is, the effect of work-family conflict on adjustments in WTA over time, has hardly been studied. Because work-family conflict is highly prevalent in the working population, further insight in this reverse relationship is invaluable to gain insight into secondary selection processes.

Depressive complaints as a predictor of sickness absence among the working population.

Objective: To study the relationship between depressive complaints and sickness absence in the working population.

Methods: Data from a prospective epidemiological cohort (n = 3339) were used. Depressive complaints were measured with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD-D) Scale.

The incidence of anxiety and depression among employees--the role of psychosocial work characteristics.

Background: Anxiety and depression are prevalent among employees and are associated with functional disability and work impairment. To date, little is known about the incidence and possible risk factors for developing anxiety and depression in the working population. Study aims were to (a) determine the incidence of subclinical anxiety and depression in a general working population and (b) identify the psychosocial work characteristics associated with the onset of subclinical anxiety and depression.

Screening questionnaire Balansmeter proved successful in predicting future long-term sickness absence in office workers.

Objective: To develop and validate a screening instrument to identify employees at high risk for future long-term sickness absence.

Study Design And Setting: The instrument was developed (n=5,601) and internally validated (n=3,383) through data analyses of the Maastricht Cohort Study, among a group of office workers not absent from work. External validation was performed in a cohort of 3,895 bank employees.

Cancer mortality in workers exposed to dieldrin and aldrin: over 50 years of follow up.

Objective: Dieldrin and aldrin, pesticides widely used until the 1970s, have been under suspicion of being carcinogenic. In this study, overall and cause-specific mortality was assessed in a cohort of 570 employees occupationally exposed to the pesticides dieldrin and aldrin to investigate the long-term health effects, in particular carcinogenic effects.

Methods: All of the employees worked in the production plants between January 1954 and January 1970 and were followed for cause-specific mortality until 30 April 2006.

Structured early consultation with the occupational physician reduces sickness absence among office workers at high risk for long-term sickness absence: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To examine the efficacy of structured early consultation among employees at high risk for future long-term sickness absence, in the prevention and/or reduction of sickness absence. The focus of the experiment was the timing of the intervention, that is, treatment before sickness absence actually occurs.

Methods: In the current prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT), employees at high risk for long-term sickness absence were selected based on responses to a 34-item screening questionnaire including demographic, workplace, health and psychosocial factors associated with long-term sickness absence (>28 days).

Changes in serum markers indicative of health effects in vineyard workers following exposure to the fungicide mancozeb: an Italian study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the health effects induced by exposure to the fungicide mancozeb in Italian vineyard workers. Ninety-three Italian subjects entered the study - 48 vine-growers intermittently exposed to mancozeb and 45 healthy controls. The subjects were investigated three times: before the seasonal application of pesticides (T0), 30 days after the beginning of the application period (T30), and 45 days after T0 (T45).

Associations of fatigue and depression among fatigued employees over time: a 4-year follow-up study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate how unexplained fatigue and depression are associated over time in a sample of employees with advanced fatigue, taking physical functioning and work status into account.

Methods: Data come from a randomized trial in which 151 fatigued employees on sick leave participated. Using repeated-measures analysis, we assessed associations between fatigue and depression scores over the course of 4 years, controlling for physical functioning and work status.

Smoking among shift workers: More than a confounding factor.

In studies on the cardiovascular disease risk among shift workers, smoking is considered to be a confounding factor. In a study of 239 shift and 157 daytime workers, it was found that shift work was prospectively related to increased cigarette consumption, indicating that smoking might be in the causative pathway; however, the number of study subjects was too low to warrant sound conclusions. Therefore, data from the Maastricht Cohort study were used to investigate the longitudinal relation between smoking and shift work in a much larger population.

Vital working hour schemes: The dynamic balance between various interests.

"Balancing Interests", the theme of the 17th International Symposium on Shift Work and Working Time held in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands (September 2005), refers to the ambition to reach an optimal balance between the various aspects of shift work. Economic, ergonomic, physical, and psychosocial factors all interact in determining the impact of shift work at the individual, organizational, and societal level. It is the challenge of this multidisciplinary field of research to model all relevant factors in such a way that it will allow us to optimize the dynamic trade-off between the yield and the risk of shift work.

Long-term efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy by general practitioners for fatigue: a 4-year follow-up study.

Objective: In an earlier study, we found that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) delivered by general practitioners (GPs) for fatigue among employees on sick leave was not effective after 12 months. In this study we aim to assess the long-term efficacy of CBT by GPs for fatigue. It was hypothesized that the intervention could prevent deterioration as well as relapse of fatigue complaints and relapse into absenteeism in the long term.

Leisure time physical activity and sickness absenteeism; a prospective study.

Aim: To establish whether workers with frequent leisure time physical activities are at higher or lower risk of sickness absence compared to inactive workers.

Method: Self reported and company recorded sickness absence data were collected during 18 months of follow-up for 8902 workers. Frequency of leisure time physical activities was queried at baseline.

Chronic bronchitis, cigarette smoking, and the subsequent onset of depression and anxiety: results from a prospective population-based cohort study.

Objective: The authors used data from a prospective, population-based cohort study to examine: (a) whether the presence of chronic bronchitis predicts the subsequent onset of depression or anxiety, and (b) if the incidence of depressed or anxious cases was different for smokers compared with nonsmokers.

Materials And Methods: For studying the relation between chronic bronchitis and anxiety or depression, we used data from respectively 4468 and 4520 respondents.

Results: The number of incident anxious (19.

The impact of a nationwide introduction of new drugs and a treatment protocol for glaucoma on the number of glaucoma surgeries.

Purpose: To study the trend in number of glaucoma surgeries, and the influence hereon of the introduction of new glaucoma medication, reimbursement of its costs, and the introduction of a treatment protocol.

Methods: Out of the Dutch Health Care Registration, all open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension patients aged 20 years and older, who underwent glaucoma surgery were selected. Over the period 1995 until 2003 the trend in the number of monthly performed glaucoma surgeries was described by LOESS spline procedure.