PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Torres Lana

Publications and source records attributed to A Torres Lana.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Smoking and sickness absence among public health workers.

BACKGROUND: As well as causing sickness and death, smoking has high socio-economic costs. The aim of this paper was to examine how closely smoking is associated with sickness absence among healthcare workers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Cases and controls were paired by age, gender and occupation among primary healthcare workers in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Cases were selected from workers that had been absent from work due to sickness for 1 or more days in an entire year, regardless of the cause. Controls were those workers who were not absent due to sickness over the same period. Tobacco consumption was verified by telephone poll. Matched pairs analysis was performed. RESULTS: Among the 292 cases, 40% were smokers, compared with 31% of controls [odds ratio (OR)=1.51, 95% confidence intervals (CI)=1.06-2.14]. The association between smoking and sickness absence was stronger in those aged 30-45 years (OR=1.60, 95%CI=1.04-2.44) and among nurses (OR=2.08, 95%CI=1.05-4.14). When the cause of sickness absence was a respiratory disease, no association was found with smoking. However, an association was found with back pain (OR=5, 95%CI=1.45-17.27). Duration of tobacco consumption was higher in cases (a) when only current smokers were considered (P=0.002), and (b) when including the smoking duration of former smokers (P=0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: Smoking is associated with a higher risk of sickness absence among healthcare workers, particularly due to back pain. This could be used as an incentive to persuade healthcare workers to stop smoking and re-inforce the non-smoking message given to their patients.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1999

[May's smoke].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

[Usefulness of a gene amplification technique (LCx MTB) in the diagnosis of tuberculosis: preliminary results with different sputum samples].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use in non-sputum samples of a commercial molecular amplification kit (LCx MTB, Abbott Diagnostica) (LCx) for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Ninety-nine non-sputum samples from the same number of patients (bronchoalveolar, pleural and ascitic fluid, fecal samples, blood cultures, biopsies from different sites, cerebrospinal fluid, urine and gastric juices) and 14 sputum samples (10 from patients clinically suspected of having tuberculosis and 4 from patients diagnosed of tuberculosis and undergoing appropriate treatment for at least one month). All samples were LCx processed according to the manufacturer's instructions. The reference diagnosis was obtained by the Löwestein-jensen method and when results were inconsistent, we took into account the degree of clinical suspicion, response to treatment and histology. RESULTS: Seven of the 99 samples were positive by the LCx technique, and 6 of the 7 were also LJ positive; 1 could not be evaluated because of culture contamination. One LJ positive culture was LCx negative. Only one sample was positive by Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining. Ninety-two samples were LCx negative, with 91 showing no growth at all. Sensitivity was 86% and specificity 98%. Atypical mycobacteria were detected in 4 cases, all of which were LCx negative. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of tuberculosis by applying the LCx system to various types of samples other than sputum is simple, rapid, sensitive and specific.

Humans↗
PubMed1994

[Smoking habit among workers of the public health system in Tenerife].

OBJECTIVE: To find the prevalence of tobacco use among workers in the Public Health system and to assess their own attitudes to the possibility of giving up smoking. DESIGN: A descriptive study of a crossover type was carried out using a self-filled closed-answer questionnaire. SETTING: The Public Health system on the island of Tenerife. PARTICIPANTS: After stratified random sampling, a sample of 1,282 workers was obtained, of whom 770 (60%) answered the questionnaire. Later a reply was obtained from 10% of those who did not at first reply, without any differences from the other participants being apparent. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Overall prevalence is 43% of smokers, 13% ex-smokers and 44% non-smokers. 20% of the smokers have an important physical dependency and only 30.76% are highly motivated to stop smoking. 56% of smokers feel home pressure to stop smoking, while only 29.5% of smokers feel pressured at work. We elaborated a scale, which was useful in measuring peoples' motivation to abandon the habit. CONCLUSIONS: Almost half these workers are smokers at present. Despite belonging to the Health system, they are no more motivated than the general population they look after.

Adult↗