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Pregnant women's working conditions and their changes during pregnancy: a national study in France.

In a study of 2387 employed women who had worked for more than three months of their pregnancy the data were extracted from a survey carried out on a national sample of births in France in 1981. Manual, service and shop workers had a higher preterm delivery rate than professional, administrative, or clerical workers. Assembly line work was associated with a higher preterm delivery rate even when production workers only were considered. Cumulated physically tiring working conditions--standing work, carrying of heavy loads, assembly line work, and considerable physical effort--were related to higher preterm delivery and low birthweight rate. During pregnancy, sickness absences were commoner when the working conditions were arduous. Changes in the working conditions were less clearly related to arduous work than sick leaves; they were not significantly more frequent for standing work or for assembly line work. Refusals from employers to grant favourable arrangements were more frequent when the working conditions were tiring and sick leaves were more common among women whose requests had been refused.

Female↗

Is preterm delivery still related to physical working conditions in pregnancy?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to determine the relationship between working conditions during pregnancy, women's occupation, and preterm birth. DESIGN: This was a retrospective survey. SETTING: The study was carried out in four public maternity units in France in 1987 and 1988. SUBJECTS: 1949 women were interviewed after the delivery during their stay in hospital. Of these, 1002 held a job during pregnancy, but this report is confined to 875 women who had a single live birth and who had worked for more than the first trimester of pregnancy. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Information about social and occupational status was obtained through interviews, and data about gestational length were obtained from medical records. The primary results showed that preterm birth did not vary significantly according to working conditions whereas it differed according to occupational group. CONCLUSIONS: Occupation, but not working conditions, affected the incidence of preterm birth. This result is discordant with other studies which underlined the excess of preterm births among women with strenuous working conditions. Reasons for this discrepancy may include (1) change in perception of "strenuous working conditions"; (2) improved working conditions; (3) the development of "preventive" strategies by pregnant women. Occupation is a more reliable indicator of risk than self described working conditions.

Employment↗

Adverse working conditions and alcohol use in men and women.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between adverse working conditions and abstinence and heavy drinking. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional study within the framework of a general population survey conducted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands (N = 7533). Working conditions were classified into four domains: hazardous physical working conditions, demands at work, level of control over one's job, and support from coworkers and supervisors. Abstainers were compared with drinkers; within drinkers, heavy drinkers were compared with light-moderate drinkers, and those who reported binge drinking were compared with those who did not report binge drinking. RESULTS: Respondents who reported adverse working conditions were as likely to be abstainers as they were to be drinkers. Within drinkers, males and females who reported high hazardous physical working conditions were more likely to be heavy drinkers than to be light-moderate drinkers (light-moderate is not just an amount, but a combination of amount and frequency) and to report binge drinking (males only). Respondents who reported high demands were also more likely to be heavy drinkers than to be light-moderate drinkers. CONCLUSIONS: Stressful circumstances, such as adverse working conditions, were associated with high levels of alcohol intake among drinking men and women.

Aged↗

High blood pressure during pregnancy and working conditions among hospital personnel.

The relationship between working conditions and high blood pressure during pregnancy was analysed in a sample of 621 women hospital employees in the Paris region over the period 1979-1981. Data were collected by interviews during the routine medical visit at the end of postnatal leave. Women who had to work standing up for extended periods of time, who had to carry heavy loads or who had to perform heavy cleaning tasks had high blood pressure during their pregnancy more often than women not exposed to these working conditions. The accumulation of two out of the three or these three working conditions by the same woman was strongly related to high blood pressure. This relation remained significant when other risk factors of hypertension, such as age, parity, corpulence and tobacco use, were taken into account in a multiple logistic regression.

Adult↗

Psychosocial work conditions, unemployment and self-reported psychological health: a population-based study.

AIM: To investigate the association between psychosocial conditions at work, unemployment and self-reported psychological health. METHODS: A cross-sectional postal questionnaire for the 2000 public health survey in Scania was administered to both working and unemployed people aged 18-64 years. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between psychosocial factors at work/unemployment and self-reported psychological health (General Health Questionnaire 12). Psychosocial conditions at work were classified according to the Karasek-Theorell demand-control/decision latitudes into relaxed, active, passive and job strain. The multivariate analyses included age, country of origin, education, economic stress and social participation. RESULTS: A total of 5180 people returned their questionnaire, giving a participation rate of 59%. Fifteen per cent of men and 20% of women reported poor psychological health. Those with high demands and high control (active category), those with high demands and low control (job strain category) and the unemployed had significantly higher odds ratios of poor psychological health compared to those with low demands and high control (relaxed category). Those with low demands and low control (passive category) did not differ significantly from the relaxed category. The associations remained in the multivariate analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that certain psychosocial work factors are associated with higher levels of self-reported psychological ill-health and illustrates the great importance of psychosocial conditions in determining psychological health at the population level. As found elsewhere, being unemployed was an even stronger predictor of psychological ill-health.

Adolescent↗

Working conditions in small private enterprises in Poland.

The study deals with working conditions in small private enterprises in Poland. Data come from 50 small enterprises from the Warsaw area. Information about the evaluation of working conditions and the existence of programmes for their improvement was gathered with the help of questionnaires addressed to employees and employers. The results constitute a "photograph" of the Polish reality at the beginning of its transition from planned to market economy. The study revealed a lack of programmes for the improvement of working conditions in a significant number of the enterprises studied as well as little interest in occupational safety on the part of employers (owners). The study also revealed that all decisions--including those about the improvement of working conditions--were made by employers. Hence, the need for the widest possible dissemination of knowledge on occupational safety and the protection of human in the working environment with particular stress put on employers. Employers who are knowledgeable in this field and who are aware of its importance can significantly influence the improvement of working conditions in small enterprises.

Humans↗

[Working conditions of obstetrical nurses: empirical evidence].

This work aimed at the description of the working conditions of the nurse, its specification, transformation and contradictions. The sample was constituted of 10 skilled nurses or specialists in obstetric nursing active in six public institutions in Salvador (four maternity hospitals and two hospitals). As technique of data collection there were used interviews and observation with participation. The results on the working conditions are presented through the following components; working day, wage, feeding, rest, human resources, facilities, material and other aspects. There were observed several inadequacies in the conditions offered to the work of a nurse, not only the ones related to the environment but also the needed raw materials for the women assistance during the birth as well. There were found some accounts related to the existing conditions for the work, which demonstrated inherent conditions in the health work seen as social practice.

Bed Occupancy↗

[Studies on the cervicobrachial disorder among cash register operators. Part 2. A review on clinical findings and working conditions of patients].

Complaints, clinical findings and working conditions of the patients suffering from occupational cervicobrachial disorders (OCD) were discussed, with special reference to the prognosis of the patients. Subjects were 120 cash register operators with OCD engaged in supermarkets at which the authors participated in the health care activities for the prevention of the disorder. Thirty-three of them suffered from the disorder after getting well from the first onset. The authors discussed on the relationship between complaints and clinical findings of the patients and duration needed for recovery, the relationship between clinical finding and complaints of "the upper extremities" by the questionnaire of "complaints in daily life" and the relations of appearance of lowered grip strength to complaints and clinical findings. Case studies were also examined as to the influence of working conditions on the prognosis of the patients. Results were summerized as follows. 1. The severer the grade of OCD, the longer the duration needed to recover. 2. There were more complaints of arms, "the upper extremities" and "the legs", increased appearance of lowered back strength, cinesalgia of the shoulder, neck, and wrist joints, paresthesia, positiveness of Morley's test and muscle tenderness in the extensor muscles in the fingers, neck, back and so on among the patients with delayed recovery than among those recovered within 3 months. 3. Lowered back strength, muscle tenderness in the neck and in various sites of the body were observed more among the patients with many complaints of "the upper extremities" than among those without. 4. Lowered grip strength was not considered to be useful for early diagnosis of the patients. 5. Such working conditions, as carrying heavy goods and keeping upper extremities raised for a long time were considered to hamper the recovery of the disorder.

Adult↗

[A radiation hygiene assessment of the working conditions of angiography specialists working using image converters and x-ray TV sets].

Ever-growing bulk of medical equipment used in major health centres with consequent increase in the volume of the angiocardiographic procedures performed, result into greater dosages gained by the medical personnel involved. In this connection, the major dosage-forming factors in different professional medical groups were evaluated. The head, hands and feet were defined as "the critical zones" for angiographic unit personnel. The only possible way of protecting hands was proposed--by means of shortening the time of irradiation, e. i. by establishing hygienic standards for angiographic procedures and operations.

Angiography↗

Current and lifetime exposure to working conditions. Do they explain educational differences in subjective health?

Previous research has shown that the association between education and health is partly mediated by working conditions. So far, most studies fail to take into account working careers and instead focus on working conditions at one point in time. This study examines the extent to which current and lifetime exposure to working conditions differ between educational groups, and whether taking into account lifetime exposure rather than current exposure improves our understanding of educational differences in health. A representative sample of the Dutch population (n = 1561) with retrospective information about working careers shows that lower educated men are significantly more exposed to adverse working conditions than higher educated men. These differences increase over the life course. Among women there are relatively small educational differences in exposure. Lifetime exposure to adverse working conditions explains a significant part (a third) of the health differences between the highest and lowest educated men. Moreover, measurements of lifetime exposure to working conditions offer a better explanation for educational differences in health than measurements of current exposure. Among women, only relative lifetime exposure to working conditions can explain a small part of the educational differences in health, while current and absolute lifetime exposure do not explain these differences.

Adult↗

[Lifestyles, working conditions, and health inequalities among men aged 55].

BACKGROUND: The article analyses effects of health during young adulthood, lifestyles during adulthood, and working conditions on variations in general health among men aged 55. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data were obtained from interviews in 2001 in a nation-wide sample of men born in 1946 (N = 380). Additive indices were constructed for health problems at age 55, health problems at age 25, smoking habits, physical exercise and weight problems during adulthood, and physical and psychological working conditions and working time. The indices were analysed by correlation and multivariate regression. RESULTS: Significant bivariate correlations were found between health problems at age 55 and all the explanatory variables. In the multivariate regression analysis, only health at age 25 and physical and psychological working conditions had significant effects. INTERPRETATION: The analysis indicates the relevance of a life-course perspective on health. Health problems as young adults and physical/ psychological working conditions appeared as important explanations for health variations among men in their mid-fifties. An unexpected finding was that variations in lifestyle had practically no effect when adjustments for previous health and working conditions were made. Sources of error are discussed.

Health Behavior↗