Author Interviews, Occupational Health, Smoking / 22.09.2014

MedicalResearch.com: Interview with: Girija Syamlal MBBS, MPH , Epidemiologist Division of Respiratory Disease Studies National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health CDC, Morgantown, West Virginia CDC/NIOSH/DRDS Morgantown,WV 26505 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Syamlal: During 2004–2011, of the 141 million U.S. adults, 20.7% were current cigarette smokers. Smoking prevalences were higher among men (22.8%) than women (18.3%). In both men and women, cigarette smoking prevalence varied widely by occupational group. In certain occupations, the prevalence of smoking was three times greater than the Healthy People 2020 goal that aims to reduce cigarette smoking prevalence to 12%. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, General Medicine, Occupational Health / 10.09.2014

Saurabh S. Thosar, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher Oregon Institute for Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health & Science UniversiMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Saurabh S. Thosar, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher Oregon Institute for Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health & Science University Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Thosar: We discovered that 3 hours of sitting leads to an impairment in shear rate and an impairment in femoral artery endothelial function. When systematic breaks are added in the sitting time the shear rate and the endothelial function are preserved. (more…)
Author Interviews, Insomnia, Occupational Health / 04.09.2014

Tea Lallukka, PhD Finnish Institute of Occupational Health & University of Helsinki, Hjelt Institute, Department of Public Health University of Helsinki, FinlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tea Lallukka, PhD Finnish Institute of Occupational Health & University of Helsinki, Hjelt Institute, Department of Public Health University of Helsinki, Finland Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Lallukka: Our study used nationally representative survey data linked with register data on medically certified sickness absence among working -aged Finnish women and men. We showed consistent associations between insomnia symptoms, sleep duration, and being tired and sickness absence. The follow-up lasted around 7 years. Sickness absence days were derived from comprehensive registers from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The associations were broadly similar among women and men. Furthermore, they remained even after considering key correlates of sleep and sickness absence including socioeconomic position, working conditions, health behaviors, obesity, and mental and physical health. Health data were derived from physical examination conducted by field physicians. These data are more objective, and help provide more robust evidence. We further covered all key sleep disturbances and sleep duration for more comprehensive understanding about the contribution of sleep to sickness absence. Finally, a novel method developed by the authors (Härkänen & Kaikkonen) allowed us to estimate the difference in sickness absence days per working year among those reporting and not reporting different sleep disturbances. Using the difference in days absent from work, we were further able to estimate the hypothetical direct costs of sickness absence highlighting notable societal significance of sleep. Thus, a large part of all costs of sickness absence are attributable to poor sleep. For example, those sleeping 5 hours or less or 10 hours or more, were absent from work ca 5-9 days more, as compared to those with optimal sleep length. The optimal sleep length with the lowest risk of sickness absence was 7 hours 46 minutes for men and 7 hours 38 minutes for women. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Circadian Rhythm, Diabetes, Occupational Health / 28.07.2014

Professor  Zuxun Lu School of Public Health Tongii Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhun, Hubei, China.MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor  Zuxun Lu School of Public Health Tongii Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhun, Hubei, China. Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Prof. Lu: The main finding of this systematic review and meta-analysis was that shift work is associated with an increased risk of diabetes mellitus (DM). The association between shift work and DM appeared to be independent of physical activity, family of history of DM and body mass index. We found that the increased risk of diabetes mellitus was more pronounced in rotating shift group and male shift workers than in other shift group and female shift workers, respectively. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Occupational Health / 11.06.2014

Gabriella Johansson Occupational and Environmental Medicine Lund University Hospital Lund, SwedenMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gabriella Johansson Occupational and Environmental Medicine Lund University Hospital Lund, Sweden   MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Our main focus was to study hairdressers’ exposure to carcinogenic aromatic amines. We found that the concentrations of the carcinogenic compound o-toluidine in blood increased with the number of treatments per week of light color permanent hair dyeing and hair waving treatments. Another aromatic amine, m- toluidine (assessed as not classifiable as carcinogenic to humans owing to a lack of data) in blood, increased with the number of treatments per week of light color hair dyeing and all other hair dyeing. (more…)