Biomedical subjects

Catherine Thomsen

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine Thomsen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Indicators for occupational health surveillance.

Each year, millions of the estimated 140 million U.S. workers are injured on the job or become ill from exposure to hazards at work. These work-related injuries and illnesses result in substantial human and economic costs for workers, employers, and society; estimated direct and indirect costs of work-related injuries and illnesses are approximately $170 billion annually. In 1998, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) convened a work group that identified priority occupational health conditions to be placed under surveillance, addressed cross-cutting surveillance concerns, and made recommendations regarding the role of states in a comprehensive nationwide surveillance system for work-related disease, injuries, and hazards. CSTE recommendations led to the generation of 19 occupational health indicators (OHIs) and one Employment Demographic Profile, which were developed during 2001-2003. The OHIs complement other guidelines for state-based occupational health surveillance to address overall state and national goals to improve public health. These OHIs are intended to help states build occupational health capacity by providing them with tools to collect and generate important, basic information concerning the occupational health status of the state population and to identify areas in which to focus prevention efforts. In 2005, CSTE released a report compiling OHI data from 13 states. NIOSH provides funding for the OHIs because they are now a required component of state-based cooperative agreements for occupational health surveillance. This report introduces the OHIs and describes CSTE's approach to developing this new occupational health surveillance tool.

Accidents, Occupational↗

PubMed2006

Acute pesticide-related illness among emergency responders, 1993-2002.

BACKGROUND: Emergency responders are among the first to arrive at a pesticide-related release event. Magnitude, severity, and risk factor information on acute pesticide poisoning among those workers is needed. METHODS: Survey data collected from the SENSOR-Pesticides, CDPR and HSEES programs between 1993 and 2002 from 21 states were reviewed. Acute occupational pesticide-related illness incidence rates for each category of emergency responder were calculated, as were incidence rate ratios (IRR) among emergency responders compared to all other workers employed in non-agricultural industries. RESULTS: A total of 291 cases were identified. Firefighters accounted for 111 cases (38%), law enforcement officers for 104 cases (36%), emergency medical technicians for 34 cases (12%), and 42 cases (14%) were unspecified emergency responders. Among the 200 cases with information on activity responsible for exposure, most were exposed while performing activities related to a pesticide release event (84%) and not involving patient care, while the remainder involved exposure to pesticide-contaminated patients. A majority of cases were exposed to insecticides (51%). Most had low severity illnesses (90%). The incidence rate was highest for firefighters (39.1/million) and law enforcement officers (26.6/million). The IRRs were also elevated for these professions (firefighters, IRR = 2.67; law enforcement officers, IRR = 1.69). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the need for greater efforts to prevent acute occupational pesticide-related illness among emergency responders.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Acute occupational pesticide-related illness in the US, 1998-1999: surveillance findings from the SENSOR-pesticides program.

BACKGROUND: Concern about the adverse public health and environmental effects of pesticide use is persistent. Recognizing the importance of surveillance for acute occupational pesticide-related illness, we report on surveillance for this condition across multiple states. METHODS: Survey data collected between 1998 and 1999 were obtained from the seven states that conduct acute occupational pesticide-related illness surveillance as part of the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks (SENSOR) program. Data were collected by these state programs in a standardized manner and analyzed. Acute occupational pesticide-related illness incidence rates for those employed in agriculture and those employed in non-agricultural industries were also calculated. RESULTS: Between 1998 and 1999, a total of 1,009 individuals with acute occupational pesticide-related illness were identified by states participating in the SENSOR-pesticides program. The mean age was 36 years, and incidence rates peaked among 20-24 year-old workers. The overall incidence rate was 1.17 per 100,000 full time equivalents (FTEs). The incidence rate among those employed in agriculture was higher (18.2/100,000 FTEs) compared to those employed in non-agricultural industries (0.53/100,000 FTEs). Most of the illnesses were of low severity (69.7%). Severity was moderate in 29.6% of the cases, and high in four cases (0.4%). Three fatalities were identified. Insecticides were responsible for 49% of all illnesses. CONCLUSIONS: Surveillance is an important tool to assess acute pesticide-related illness, and to identify associated risk factors. Our findings suggest that these illnesses continue to be an important occupational health problem, especially in agriculture. As such, greater efforts are needed to prevent acute occupational pesticide-related illness.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2003

Acute pesticide-related illnesses among working youths, 1988-1999.

OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to describe acute occupational pesticide-related illnesses among youths and to provide prevention recommendations. METHODS: Survey data from 8 states and from poison control center data were analyzed. Illness incidence rates and incidence rate ratios were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 531 youths were identified with acute occupational pesticide-related illnesses. Insecticides were responsible for most of these illnesses (68%), most of which were of minor severity (79%). The average annual incidence rate among youths aged 15 to 17 years was 20.4 per billion hours worked, and the incidence rate ratio among youths vs adults was 1.71 (95% confidence interval = 1.53, 1.91). CONCLUSIONS: The present findings suggest the need for greater efforts to prevent acute occupational pesticide-related illnesses among adolescents.

Acute Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Aging memory self-efficacy: elders share their thoughts and experience.

Twenty-six elders responded to an open-ended question as part of a study that examined the relationships among depression, health, memory self-efficacy, and metamemory. Participants rated their overall memory function as fair to average (M = 4.26, standard deviation [SD] = 1.29). The average memory efficacy scores were high (M = 51.35, SD = 23.56). The final question invited participants to share any additional information they thought might be important to this item. This article represents a content analysis of these comments. The mean age of responders was 68.78; all had high perceived health and no depression. No differences on memory self-efficacy arose among age groups. Themes included memory management, rationalization, reflection, information seeking, and correlation establishment. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to ask elders about memory function during routine health care encounters, as individuals are interested in memory assessment and management.

Adaptation, Psychological↗