Background: Using disinfectants and cleaning products (DCPs) at home and work is known to influence both the onset and course of asthma, but most epidemiological studies did not consider the multiplicity and correlations of exposures to DCPs. We aimed to identify exposure profiles for the long-term weekly use of DCPs by latent class analysis (LCA) and assess their associations with asthma.
Methods: LCA was conducted on data from 1143 young adults initially recruited in the German centers of Phase II of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) and followed up three times.
This paper aims to explain potential psychological effects of algorithmic management (AM) on human-centered task design and with that also workers' mental well-being. For this, we link research on algorithmic management (AM) with Sociomaterial System Theory and Action Regulation Theory (ART). Our main assumption is that psychological effects of sociomaterial systems, such as AM, can be explained by their impact on human action.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioelectromagnetics
October 2024
Potential differential and non-differential recall error in mobile phone use (MPU) in the multinational MOBI-Kids case-control study were evaluated. We compared self-reported MPU with network operator billing record data up to 3 months, 1 year, and 2 years before the interview date from 702 subjects aged between 10 and 24 years in eight countries. Spearman rank correlations, Kappa coefficients and geometric mean ratios (GMRs) were used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Due to climate change, the increasing frequency of hot summer days and heat waves can result in occupational heat strain, especially in non-air-conditioned workplaces. Healthcare workers (HCW) engaged in patient care are particularly affected, as they are additionally exposed to physical stress. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) can aggravate heat strain in HCW.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental exposure to lead substantially decreased over the past decades. However, soil of former mining areas still contains high lead levels. We therefore performed a biomonitoring study among children living in two former mining communities in Lower Saxony, Germany.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Inadequate coordination between relevant professionals hampers the provision of appropriate care for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Integrated, multidisciplinary care is thus urgently required. Hence, we aimed at establishing the first university-bound, interdisciplinary specialist centre for FASD in Germany, systematically collecting data on its utilisation and evaluation by attendees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDue to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, healthcare workers worldwide faced major challenges in the form of psychological stress. The aim of this systematic literature review and meta-analysis is to identify mental health consequences and associated work-related factors in healthcare workers during a pandemic and to quantify the influence of associated work-related factors on mental health consequences. A systematic literature search according to PRISMA was conducted on 5 August 2021 using the databases PubMed Central and APA PsychInfo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Known protective factors for long-term outcome in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are early diagnosis and a stable, non-violent supportive environment. Which factors contribute to the stability of care is not yet known. Thus, the aim of our study was to evaluate whether the age at diagnosis and the complexity of brain dysfunction play a role for placement changes in children with FASD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChronic stress at work is ubiquitous in modern societies. However, its influence on atopic dermatitis (AD) has hardly been investigated. This study aimed to elucidate the association between work-related stress and AD via a longitudinal study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Growing up on a farm is associated with a reduced prevalence of respiratory allergies in childhood. Whether this protective effect remains into adulthood is unknown.
Objectives: We aimed to prospectively investigate the relationship between farm exposure and prevalence of allergic rhinitis and wheeze from childhood to early adulthood.
Objectives: Evidence suggests that precarious employment can have detrimental effects on workers' health, including mental health. Migrant workers are discussed to be especially vulnerable to such effects. Thus, we systematically reviewed existing research on the association between precarious employment and migrant workers' mental health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo investigate whether wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) workers and residents living in close proximity to a WWTP have elevated carriage rates of ESBL-producing Enterobacterales, as compared to the general population. From 2018 to 2020, we carried out a cross-sectional study in Germany, the Netherlands, and Romania among WWTP workers (N = 344), nearby residents (living ≤ 300 m away from WWTPs; N = 431) and distant residents (living ≥ 1000 m away = reference group; N = 1165). We collected information on potential confounders via questionnaire.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Flow disruptions (FD) in the operating room (OR) have been found to adversely affect the levels of stress and cognitive workload of the surgical team. It has been concluded that frequent disruptions also lead to impaired technical performance and subsequently pose a risk to patient safety. However, respective studies are scarce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Phenotypes of asthma and allergic diseases are mainly studied separately for children and adults. To explore the role of adolescence and young adulthood, we investigated symptom trajectories at the transition from childhood into adulthood.
Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted in a population initially recruited for the German arm of Phase II of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood and followed-up three times until their early 30s (N=2267).
Previous studies have shown poor working conditions and poor mental health among au pairs. However, there are limited longitudinal approaches to these conditions. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to assess the occurrence of depressive symptoms longitudinally and to analyze the association between sociodemographic characteristics, working conditions and violence at work with depressive symptoms over time among Spanish-speaking au pairs living in Germany.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Brain function deficits cause strong negative impacts for the everyday lives of children and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Therefore, evidence-based intervention programs that are specifically designed for patients with FASD are needed but still scarce. The aim of the presented article is a systematic literature review of evidence-based intervention strategies for children and adolescents with FASD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Caring for individuals with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) puts a substantial and often life-long burden on affected families. Caregivers' specific needs and demands are, however, not well understood so far. We thus aimed at systematically collecting data on the needs of individuals caring for children and adolescents with FASD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz
June 2021
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is one of the most common chronic diseases at birth. It is very often not or falsely diagnosed. This leads to inadequate, ineffective care and treatment of the affected children as well as to insufficient support of their families.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibiotic resistance has become a serious global health threat. Wastewater treatment plants may become unintentional collection points for bacteria resistant to antimicrobials. Little is known about the transmission of antibiotic resistance from wastewater treatment plants to humans, most importantly to wastewater treatment plant workers and residents living in the vicinity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAsthma and allergies are complex diseases affected by genetic and environmental factors, such as occupational and psychosocial factors, as well as interactions between them. Although childhood is a critical phase in the development of asthma and allergies, few cohort studies on occupational outcomes followed up participants from childhood onwards. We present design, methods, and initial data analysis for the third follow-up of SOLAR (Study on Occupational Allergy Risks), a prospective and population-based German asthma and allergy cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long-term effectiveness of asthma control medication has been shown in clinical trials but results from observational studies with children and adolescents are lacking. Marginal structural models estimated using targeted maximum likelihood methods are a novel statistiscal approach for such studies as it allows to account for time-varying confounders and time-varying treatment. Therefore, we aimed to calculate the long-term risk of reporting asthma symptoms in relation to control medication use in a real-life setting from childhood to adulthood applying targeted maximum likelihood estimation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We explored the association between ionizing radiation (IR) from pre-natal and post-natal radio-diagnostic procedures and brain cancer risk within the MOBI-kids study.
Methods: MOBI-kids is an international (Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Spain, The Netherlands) case-control study including 899 brain tumor (645 neuroepithelial) cases aged 10-24 years and 1,910 sex-, age-, country-matched controls. Medical radiological history was collected through personal interview.
Background: Precarious employment has become an urgent public health issue at a global scale with potential consequences for quality of life and health of employees, especially in vulnerable groups such as migrants. The primary aim of this systematic review is thus to analyze and summarize existing research on the association between precarious employment and migrant workers' mental health.
Methods: We will search PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science (from January 1970 onwards) for original articles on observational studies (e.
Introduction: We used data from MOBI-Kids, a 14-country international collaborative case-control study of brain tumors (BTs), to study clinical characteristics of the tumors in older children (10 years or older), adolescents and young adults (up to the age of 24).
Methods: Information from clinical records was obtained for 899 BT cases, including signs and symptoms, symptom onset, diagnosis date, tumor type and location.
Results: Overall, 64% of all tumors were low-grade, 76% were neuroepithelial tumors and 62% gliomas.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
November 2019
The number of au-pairs in Germany is on the rise. In 2017, about 13,500 au-pairs were living in German families, almost half of them originating from non-European Union (EU) countries and many of them from Spanish speaking countries. Knowledge about mental health among au-pairs in Germany is limited.
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