Rhino Conjunctivitis and Asthma Among Seafood Processing Workers in Greenland. A Cross-Sectional Study.

The fishing- and the seafood processing industries are the largest industrial sectors in Greenland. Despite this, only a few cases of occupational diseases in this industry have been reported to the Danish Labor Market Insurance. Occupational asthma and allergy are well-known occupational diseases in the seafood processing industry worldwide and underreporting of occupational diseases in Greenland is suspected.

A Cohort Study on Cancer Incidence among Women Exposed to Environmental Asbestos in Childhood with a Focus on Female Cancers, including Breast Cancer.

Objectives: To examine the risk of cancer in former school children exposed to environmental asbestos in childhood with a focus on female cancers, including breast cancer.

Methods: We retrieved a cohort of females ( = 6024) attending four schools located in the neighborhood of a large asbestos cement plant in Denmark. A reference cohort was frequency-matched 1:9 ( = 54,200) in sex and five-year age intervals.

Cancer Incidence and Risk of Multiple Cancers after Environmental Asbestos Exposure in Childhood-A Long-Term Register-Based Cohort Study.

Objectives: To examine the asbestos-associated cancer incidence and the risk of multiple cancers in former school children exposed to environmental asbestos in childhood.

Methods: A cohort of 12,111 former school children, born 1940-1970, was established using 7th grade school records from four schools located at a distance of 100-750 m in the prevailing wind direction from a large asbestos-cement plant that operated from 1928 to 1984 in Aalborg, Denmark. Using the unique Danish personal identification number, we linked information on employments, relatives' employments, date of cancer diagnosis, and type of cancer and vital status to data on cohortees extracted from the Supplementary Pension Fund Register (employment history), the Danish Cancer Registry, and the Danish Civil Registration System.

Serum selenium levels and asthma among seafood processing workers in Greenland.

Selenium levels in the Inuit population of Greenland have been declining during the last decades. The association between Selenium and asthma has been investigated previously, but with conflicting results. The objective was to measure human serum Se (s-Se) in Greenlandic seafood processing workers, to compare with levels recorded in previous decades and to establish if s-Se is associated with asthma or lung function.

Retirement status and frailty: a cross-sectional study of the phenotype of manual workers aged 50-70 years.

Background: The frailty phenotype is predictive of mortality and has been identified in the working population. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence of frailty and individual frailty symptoms among active and retired Danish manual workers and to delineate the relationship between frailty and lifestyle factors.

Methods: Manual workers aged 50-70 years answered questions relating to the Fried criteria for frailty (weight loss, exhaustion, slowness, weakness and inactivity).

Dust exposure and the impact on hospital readmission of farming and wood industry workers for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Objectives It is still not well established how occupational air pollutants affect the prognosis of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study uses nationwide Danish registers and quantitative dust industry exposure matrices (IEM) for the farming and wood industries to estimate whether previous year dust exposure level impacts hospital readmissions for workers diagnosed with asthma or COPD. Methods We identified all individuals with a first diagnosis of either asthma (769 individuals) or COPD (342 individuals) between 1997 and 2007 and followed them until the next hospital admission for asthma or COPD, emigration, death or 31 December 2007.

Author Correction: Eye movement characteristics reflected fatigue development in both young and elderly individuals.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Physical performances show conflicting associations in aged manual workers.

Ageing is associated with a decrease in physical performance implying that aged manual workers may be unable to match the physical requirements of their jobs. In this cross-sectional study, 96 male manual workers aged 51-72 years were recruited. Outcomes included handgrip strength (HGS), fat-free mass (FFM), fat percentage, cardiorespiratory fitness ([Formula: see text]Omax), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume after 1 s (FEV), spinal flexibility, sit-to-stand test performance and static balance.

Asbestos exposure and haematological malignancies: a Danish cohort study.

Environmental asbestos exposure and occupational asbestos exposure increase the risk of several types of cancer, but the role of such exposures for haematological malignancies remains controversial. We aimed to examine the risk of haematological malignancies: first, in subjects exposed early in life, independently of any occupational exposure occurring later; second, in subjects exposed occupationally. We established an environmentally exposed cohort from four schools located near the only former asbestos cement production plant in Denmark.

On the role of ageing and musculoskeletal pain on dynamic balance in manual workers.

The purpose of this study was to explore the interacting effects of age and musculoskeletal pain on balance in manual workers. Ninety male manual workers aged 51-72 yr were recruited and stratified according to lower extremity musculoskeletal pain intensity (pain/no pain) and work status (working/retired). The five-repetition sit-to-stand (STS) test was used to assess lower extremity function including completion time, stand time, sit time and dynamic rate of force development both in the upwards (RFD) and downwards moving phase (RFD).

Heme oxygenase 1 polymorphism, occupational vapor, gas, dust, and fume exposure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a Danish population-based study.

Objectives The number of dinucleotide repeats (GT) modulate expression of heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1), a stress response gene. Multiple repeats might affect chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) susceptibility. We aimed to investigate the association of this polymorphism with COPD and its interaction with occupational exposures (vapor, gas, dust, or fumes).

An oculometrics-based biofeedback system to impede fatigue development during computer work: A proof-of-concept study.

A biofeedback system may objectively identify fatigue and provide an individualized timing plan for micro-breaks. We developed and implemented a biofeedback system based on oculometrics using continuous recordings of eye movements and pupil dilations to moderate fatigue development in its early stages. Twenty healthy young participants (10 males and 10 females) performed a cyclic computer task for 31-35 min over two sessions: 1) self-triggered micro-breaks (manual sessions), and 2) biofeedback-triggered micro-breaks (automatic sessions).

Physical-work ability and chronic musculoskeletal complaints are related to leisure-time physical activity: Cross-sectional study among manual workers aged 50-70 years.

Aims: To investigate the associations between both high- and low-intensity leisure-time physical activity on physical-work ability and chronic musculoskeletal complaints among manual workers aged 50-70 years.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1763 manual workers (mean age 57.1, SD ± 4.

Environmental asbestos exposure in childhood and risk of mesothelioma later in life: a long-term follow-up register-based cohort study.

Objective: To examine the risk of malignant mesothelioma (MM) in former pupils who attended primary school near an asbestos cement plant.

Methods: A cohort of 12 111 former pupils, born 1940-1970, was established from individual historical records from four primary schools located at a distance of 100-750 m in the prevailing wind direction from an asbestos cement plant operating from 1928 to 1984 in Aalborg, Denmark. The school cohort and a comparison cohort consisting of 108 987 gender and 5-year frequency-matched subjects were followed up (2015) for MM in the Danish Cancer Registry.

An outreach collaborative model for early identification and treatment of mental disorder in Danish workplaces.

Background: Depression and anxiety are prevalent mental disorders among the working population with potentially high personal and financial cost. The overall aim of this study was to test the applicability of an outreach collaborative model for early identification and treatment of clinical and sub-clinical mental disorders among Danish employees. This applicability was examined by I) investigating the fractions of identified and treated clinical and subclinical cases, II) describing the distribution and characteristics of cases identified and III) investigating the effect of allocated treatment.

The effects of age and musculoskeletal pain on force variability among manual workers.

The present study investigated the influence of age and musculoskeletal pain on force variability during a continuous isometric handgrip force task performed at 30% of maximal voluntary contraction carried out until failure. We recruited 96 male manual workers aged 51-72 years. The participants were stratified according to their age (50-59 and 60+ years) and by pain status (no pain, acute pain and chronic pain).

A nationwide follow-up study of occupational organic dust exposure and risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Objectives: To study exposure-response relations between cumulative organic dust exposure and incident chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among subjects employed in the Danish farming and wood industry.

Methods: We studied exposure-response relations between cumulative organic dust exposure and incident COPD (1997-2013) among individuals born during 1950-1977 in Denmark ever employed in the farming or wood industry (n=1 75 409). Industry-specific employment history (1964-2007), combined with time-dependent farming and wood industry-specific exposure matrices defined cumulative exposure.

Eye movement characteristics reflected fatigue development in both young and elderly individuals.

Fatigue can develop during prolonged computer work, particularly in elderly individuals. This study investigated eye movement characteristics in relation to fatigue development. Twenty young and 18 elderly healthy adults were recruited to perform a prolonged functional computer task while their eye movements were recorded.

Non-occupational exposure to asbestos is the main cause of malignant mesothelioma in women in North Jutland, Denmark.

Objectives Diffuse malignant mesothelioma (MM) is mainly caused by asbestos inhalation. The malignancy is rare among women and studies of the prevalence and causative role of non-occupational asbestos exposure among women with MM are scarce. This observational study aimed to elucidate the asbestos exposure patterns among women with MM.

[Asbestosis and pleural plaques].

Asbestos was used in numerous products until its total ban in Denmark in 1988. The prevalence of asbestosis and pleural plaques does not yet appear to be falling. Unfortunately the statistics are unreliable due to errors in the Danish translation of the ICD-10 codes of the disease.

Determinants of persistent asthma in young adults.

The aim of the study was to evaluate determinants for the prognosis of asthma in a population-based cohort of young adults. The study was a nine-year clinical follow up of 239 asthmatic subjects from an enriched population-based sample of 1,191 young adults, aged 20-44 years, who participated in an interviewer-administered questionnaire and clinical examination at baseline in 2003-2006. From the interview, an asthma score was generated as the simple sum of affirmative answers to five main asthma-like symptoms in order to analyse symptoms of asthma as a continuum.

[Work-up of asbestosis and estimation of asbestos exposure in an occupational context].

Asbestosis is interstitial lung fibrosis due to inhalation of asbestos fibres. Up to the ban of import in 1986, 0.7 mil tons had been used in Denmark.

[Malignant pleural mesothelioma].

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare cancer with a poor prognosis. The disease is of importance, since the incidence in Denmark is increasing despite cessation of the use of asbestos in the 1980s. MPM has a long latency period, and the first symptom is often dyspnoea, typically caused by pleural effusion.

A Follow-Up Study on Return to Work in the Year After Reporting an Occupational Injury Stratified by Outcome of the Workers' Compensation System.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare return rates to work between different groups according to the decision from the workers' compensation.

Method: Register data on disability benefits were used to describe return rates to work in Kaplan-Meier curves and association with decision on compensation claims. Disability benefits were granted by the municipalities independently of any compensation claim if sick-listed.