The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between failed smoking cessation and occupation by age stratification among Korean males and provide quantitative evidence of factors associated with failed smoking cessation. The study comprised 3,127 male workers who had attempted smoking cessation during their life time. Data were obtained from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2010 to 2012. Participants were stratified by age into two subgroups comprising a younger group (19–40 yr) and an older group (41–60 yr). Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for failed smoking cessation. In the younger group, failed smoking cessation was related to the occupational fields "service and sales" and "manual work" compared to "office work" (OR: 2.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.34–3.29; and OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.02–2.12, respectively). In the older group, the ORs of failed smoking cessation occupational categories "service and sales" and "manual work" [ref: office workers] were 0.58 (0.40–0.85) and 0.90 (0.66–1.24), respectively. Failed smoking cessation is associated with occupational categories and age stratification. Policy makers need to create tailored anti-smoking policy considering the occupation and the age of the subjects.

The purpose of this study was to develop a new equation model for predicting abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume using anthropometric values for workplace health checkup and to clarify the association between metabolic risk factors and measured and predicted VAT volumes. Two hundred sixty male workers (200 for derivation group and 60 for validation group) participated in the cross-sectional study. The anthropometric variables and VAT volume were measured with 24 consecutive magnetic resonance images. Measurements in the validation group also included metabolic risk factors, i.e. blood pressure, HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting glucose and HbA1c. Using multiple regression analyses for the derivation group, we determined the best prediction equation for abdominal VAT volume with a variance of 47% as follows: 47.03 age+117.79 BMI+74.18 waist circumference -8,792.7. In our validation group, the correlation coefficient between the measured and predicted VAT volumes was 0.74 (p<0.01). Furthermore, blood pressure, fasting glucose and HbA1c correlated with both measured and predicted VAT volumes. This study suggests that the equation model has potential to assess VAT accumulation levels in workers health checkup where CT and MRI are not available.

This study examined the impact of eating during simulated night shift on performance and subjective complaints. Subjects were randomized to eating at night (n=5; 23.2 ± 5.5 y) or not eating at night (n=5; 26.2 ± 6.4 y). All participants were given one sleep opportunity of 8 h (22:00 h-06:00 h) before transitioning to the night shift protocol. During the four days of simulated night shift participants were awake from 16:00 h-10:00 h with a daytime sleep of 6 h (10:00 h-16:00 h). In the simulated night shift protocol, meals were provided at ≈0700 h, 1900 h and 0130 h (eating at night); or ≈0700 h, 0930 h, 1410 h and 1900 h (not eating at night). Subjects completed sleepiness, hunger and gastric complaint scales, a Digit Symbol Substitution Task and a 10-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Increased sleepiness and performance impairment was evident in both conditions at 0400 h (p<0.05). Performance impairment at 0400 h was exacerbated when eating at night. Not eating at night was associated with elevated hunger and a small but significant elevation in stomach upset across the night (p<0.026). Eating at night was associated with elevated bloating on night one, which decreased across the protocol. Restricting food intake may limit performance impairments at night. Dietary recommendations to improve night-shift performance must also consider worker comfort.

The purpose of this article is to examine the applicability of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) index as an innovative index for evaluating of occupational heat stress in outdoor environments. 175 workers of 12 open-pit mines in Tehran, Iran were selected for this research study. First, the environmental variables such as air temperature, wet-bulb temperature, globe temperature, relative humidity and air flow rate were measured; then UTCI, wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and heat stress index (HSI) indices were calculated. Simultaneously, physiological parameters including heart rate, oral temperature, tympanic temperature and skin temperature of workers were measured. UTCI and WBGT are positively significantly correlated with all environmental parameters (p<0.03), except for air velocity (r<-0.39; p>0.05). Moreover, a strong significant relationship was found between UTCI and WBGT (r=0.95; p<0.001). The significant positive correlations exist between physiological parameters including oral temperature, tympanic and skin temperatures and heart rate and both the UTCI and WBGT indices (p<0.029). The highest correlation coefficient has been found between the UTCI and physiological parameters. Due to the low humidity and air velocity (~<1 m/s) in understudied mines, UTCI index appears to be appropriate to assess the occupational heat stress in these outdoor workplaces.

The aims of the present work were: to calculate lifting energy consumption (LEC) in work activities designed to have a growing lifting index (LI) by means of revised NIOSH lifting equation; to evaluate the relationship between LEC and forces at the L₅-S₁ joint. The kinematic and kinetic data of 20 workers were recorded during the execution of lifting tasks in three conditions. We computed kinetic, potential and mechanical energy and the corresponding LEC by considering three different centers of mass of: 1) the load (CoM_L); 2) the multi-segment upper body model and load together (CoM_Upp+L); 3) the whole body and load together (CoM_Tot). We also estimated compression and shear forces. Results shows that LEC calculated for CoM_Upp+L and CoM_Tot grew significantly with the LI and that all the lifting condition pairs are discriminated. The correlation analysis highlighted a relationship between LEC and forces that determine injuries at the L₅-S₁ joint.

The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between sleep disturbances and depression in daytime workers using a structured interview. A total of 1,184 daytime workers were enrolled. We evaluated difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), early morning awakening (EMA), and global insomnia scores (ISs) in all participants. As a result, the prevalences of DIS, DMS, and EMA were 16%, 46%, and 22 %, respectively. IS was significantly correlated with depression score. Additionally, although all IS subscales (i.e., DIS, DMS, and EMA) were significantly associated with depression score, the main factor contributing to depression score was DIS. Thus, the present study reveals that sleep disturbances and especially DIS are associated with depression in daytime workers.

This study investigated the characteristics and health behavior profiles of 1,803 workers who had experienced industrial accidents. Average weekly exercise days, average number of cigarettes smoked per day, average daily sleep duration, and number of days of alcohol consumption were selected to investigate health behavior profiles. Specifically, latent profile analysis was applied to identify the health behavior profiles of people who had completed industrial accident care; the latent classes were the health-conscious type (n=240), the potential-risk type (n=850), and the high-risk type (n=713). Comparison of the health-conscious and potential-risk types indicated that younger subjects, the employed, and those with lower social status and life satisfaction were more likely to be the potential-risk type. Comparison of the health-conscious and high-risk types revealed that males, younger subjects, the employed, those without chronic illnesses, and those with lower social status and life satisfaction were more likely to be the high-risk type. The results suggest that industrial accident victims who have completed accident care have different health behaviors and it is necessary to improve health promotion based on health type characteristics.