Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Screening in Occupational Health Surveillance Exams Is Associated With Decreased CRC Mortality.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening is recommended for adults aged 45 to 75. Using data from a national screening program, we examined the impact of CRC screening in a population with occupational exposures.

Methods: Since 1998, the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program (BTMed) has offered CRC screening every 3 years.

Thirty years of surveillance of depleted uranium-exposed Gulf War veterans demonstrate continued effects to bone health.

During the spring of 2024, 33 members of a group of Gulf War I veterans wounded in depleted uranium (DU) friendly-fire incidents were seen at the Baltimore VA Medical Center for surveillance related to their combat exposure. The cohort was assessed with a protocol which includes exposure monitoring for total and isotopic uranium (U) concentrations in urine and a comprehensive assessment of health outcomes including measures of bone metabolism and bone mineral density (BMD). An audiometry examination of the cohort was added to assess for acoustic trauma and toxic metal effects in this surveillance episode marking over 30 years since this exposure event.

Mortality of older construction and craft workers employed at Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear sites: Follow-up through 2021.

Background: To determine if construction and trades workers formerly employed at US Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear weapons sites are at significant risk for occupational diseases, we studied the mortality experience of participants in the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program (BTMed).

Methods: The cohort included 26,922 participants enrolled between 1998 and 2021 and 8367 deaths. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated based on US death rates.

Toxic chemical exposures among civilians in armed conflicts: the need for research equity, justice, and accountability.

Objective: Armed conflicts result in the release of toxic chemicals into the surrounding environment and civilians are commonly exposed to these toxicants. This paper reviews the evidence on civilian exposure to toxic chemicals, including but not limited to inhaled toxic substances, in post-World War II armed conflicts, and proposes a framework for the implementation of long-term surveillance programs for these populations.

Materials And Methods: Four databases of peer-reviewed health articles were searched for all English-language articles with a primary focus on toxic chemical exposures among civilians in armed conflicts since World War II.

Carcinogenic drug exposure among health-sector workers: the need for exposure assessment and surveillance.

Antineoplastic drugs (ANDs) used for chemotherapy can cause secondary cancers in treated patients and can pose carcinogenic risks to health-sector workers anywhere along these drugs' life cycle in a facility, from production to patient administration. Several PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centers (CCs) have experience addressing these hazards in the health sector. The objectives of this report are four-fold: 1) Provide an overview of longstanding research and prevention efforts, led by PAHO/WHO and its Occupational Health CCs, aimed at reducing the burden of occupational cancer in the Americas; 2) Discuss how robust AND exposure assessment and educational/outreach work by PAHO CCs can form the basis of exposure mitigation efforts among health-sector workers; 3) Through the presentation of original AND exposure assessment data from a pharmaceutical compounding facility in Chile, highlight relatively inexpensive methods by which such data can be generated; and 4) Discuss how effective, periodic environmental surveillance in healthcare facilities results in the identification of AND contamination in the work environment and enables the implementation of low-cost, high-impact interventions to reduce the risk of occupational cancer in health-sector workers, including in limited-resource settings.

Role of preventive medicine residencies in medical education: a national survey.

Background: In an era of substantial reform to the nation's health system, there has never been a greater need for physicians to understand public health. One way to foster public health in medical education is to utilize the resources within General Preventive Medicine and Public Health (PM) residency programs. Trained in public health and clinical medicine, PM physicians are uniquely positioned to bridge these disciplines.

Framing effect debiasing in medical decision making.

Objective: Numerous studies have demonstrated the robustness of the framing effect in a variety of contexts. The present study investigated the effects of a debiasing procedure designed to prevent the framing effect for young adults who made decisions based on hypothetical medical decision-making vignettes.

Methods: The debiasing technique involved participants listing advantages and disadvantages of each treatment prior to making a choice.