Asthma Among Manitoba Workers: Results from the Manitoba Occupational Disease Surveillance System.

Background: This study characterized the risk of new-onset asthma among workers in Manitoba, Canada.

Methods: Accepted time loss claims from the Workers' Compensation Board of Manitoba from 2006 to 2019, containing workers' occupations and industries, were linked with administrative health data from 1996 to 2020. After restricting the cohort to the first claim per person in an occupation and applying age and coverage exclusions, the cohort comprised 142,588 person-occupation combinations.

Barriers and facilitators for the safe handling of antineoplastic drugs.

Introduction: Antineoplastic drugs are widely used in the treatment of cancer. However, some are known carcinogens and reproductive toxins, and incidental low-level exposure to workers is a health concern. CAREX Canada estimated that approximately 75,000 Canadians are exposed to antineoplastic drugs in workplace settings.

Strategic Task and Break Timing to Reduce Ultraviolet Radiation Exposure in Outdoor Workers.

Public health messaging about sun avoidance strategies is often not practical for outdoor workers. The objective of this study was to use personal monitoring data to determine when peak UVR exposure occurs for outdoor workers, estimate how much UVR could be reduced by altering the timing of shady tasks or breaks during peak exposure times, and descriptively compare these to peak periods of ambient UVR. Ultimately, we aim to provide evidence-based sun avoidance recommendations for outdoor workers in British Columbia, Canada.

Outdoor Workers' Use of Sun Protection at Work and Leisure.

Background: Outdoor workers are at risk of high ultraviolet radiation exposure, and may have difficulty using sun protection. The objectives were to determine the prevalence of sun protection behaviors in a sample of outdoor construction workers, and to assess which factors predict better sun protection practices.

Methods: Participants were recruited via construction unions.

Occupational exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation and the risk of prostate cancer.

Objectives: Preventable risk factors for prostate cancer are poorly understood; sun exposure is a possible protective factor. The goal of this study was to investigate prostate cancer risk in outdoor workers, a population with high sun exposure.

Methods: Prostate cancer cases and controls from a large study (conducted between 1994 and 1997) were used for this analysis.

Levels of Occupational Exposure to Solar Ultraviolet Radiation in Vancouver, Canada.

Introduction: Outdoor workers are at high risk of exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR), a known human carcinogen. In Canada, no objective measures of UVR exposure are available for occupational settings.

Methods: The Outdoor Workers Project collected UVR exposure data among outdoor workers in Vancouver, Canada during the summer of 2013.

Characterization of noise and carbon monoxide exposures among professional firefighters in British Columbia.

Objectives: To characterize exposures to noise and carbon monoxide (CO) among firefighters in British Columbia, Canada.

Methods: Subjects were recruited from 13 fire halls across three municipalities in Metro Vancouver. Personal full-shift noise and CO samples were collected using datalogging noise dosimeters and CO monitors on both day and night shifts.

Surveillance of mesothelioma and workers' compensation in British Columbia, Canada.

Objectives: To determine the rate of workers' compensation for mesothelioma cases in the Canadian province of British Columbia, examine trends in mesothelioma cases and compensation over time, and identify factors associated with compensation status for mesothelioma cases.

Methods: Mesothelioma cases in the provincial cancer registry were linked at the individual level with accepted claims for mesothelioma in the provincial workers' compensation system for the period 1970-2005.

Results: 391 of the 485 workers' compensated claims were linked (81% match rate) with a record in the cancer registry for an overall mesothelioma compensation rate of 33% over the study period and a high of 49% in the last 5 years.

Influence of ambient air pollutant sources on clinical encounters for infant bronchiolitis.

Rationale: Data regarding the influence of ambient air pollution on infant bronchiolitis are few.

Objectives: We evaluated the impact of several air pollutants and their sources on infant bronchiolitis.

Methods: Infants in the Georgia Air Basin of British Columbia with an inpatient or outpatient clinical encounter for bronchiolitis (n = 11,675) were matched on day of birth to as many as 10 control subjects.