The impact of migration on deaths and hospital admissions from work‐related injuries in Australia

Objective: The shift from an industrial to a service‐based economy has seen a decline in work‐related injuries (WRIs) and mortality. How this relates to migrant workers, who traditionally held high‐risk jobs is unknown. This study examined deaths and hospital admissions from WRI, among foreign and Australian‐born workers. Methods: Tabulated population data from the 1991 to 2011 censuses, national deaths 1991–2002 and hospital admission for 2001–10. Direct age standardised mortality and hospital admission rates (DSRs) and rate ratios (RRs) were derived to examine differences in work‐related mortality/hospital admissions by gender, country of birth, employment skill level and years of residence in Australia. Results: DSRs and RRs were generally lower or no different between Australian and foreign‐born workers. Among men, mortality DSRs were lower for nine of 16 country of birth groups, and hospital admissions DSRs for 14 groups. An exception was New Zealand‐born men, with 9% (95%CI 9–13) excess mortality and 24% (95%CI 22–26) excess hospital admissions. Conclusions: Four decades ago, foreign‐born workers were generally at higher risk of WRI than Australian‐born. This pattern has reversed. The local‐born comprise 75% of the population and a pro‐active approach to health and safety regulation could achieve large benefits.     

The influence of demographics and working conditions on self-reported injuries among Latino day laborers

Abstract

Background: The majority of day laborers in the USA are Latinos. They are engaged in high-risk occupations and suffer high occupational injury rates.

Objectives: To describe on-the-job injuries reported by Latino day laborers, explore the extent that demographic and occupational factors predict injuries, and whether summative measures for total job types, job conditions, and personal protective equipment (PPE) predict injuries.

Methods: A community survey was conducted with 327 participants at 15 corners in Houston, Texas. Hierarchical and multiple logistic regressions explored predictors of occupational injury odds in the last year.

Results: Thirty-four percent of respondents reported an occupational injury in the previous year. Education, exposure to loud noises, cold temperatures, vibrating machinery, use of hard hats, total number of job conditions, and total PPE significantly predicted injury odds.

Conclusion: Risk for injury among day laborers is not only the product of a specific hazard, but also the result of their exposure to multiple occupational hazards.     

The impact of out‐of‐pocket health expenditure on household impoverishment: Evidence from Morocco

Health financing in Morocco relies mainly on out‐of‐pocket (OoP) payments. World Health Organization (WHO) has shown that these payments can expose households to catastrophic health expenditure (hereinafter CHE) and impoverish them. The study examines the financial burden of OoP health payments on Moroccan households. Two approaches—that developed by Wagstaff and Doeslear and the one advocated by WHO—are adopted to estimate the extent of CHE. These show that 1.77% of households incurred CHE at the 40% threshold for nonfood expenditure. At the 10% threshold for total consumption expenditure, 12.8% of households incurred CHE. We find that these OoP payments have made 1.11% of Moroccan households poorer. In analyzing the determinants of CHE, we estimated an ordered probit model. It appears that any of (a) hospitalization, (b) presence of an elderly person in the household, or (c) the level of poverty increases significantly the likelihood of health expenditure becoming catastrophic. On the other hand, we find that coverage by health insurance protects against CHE.     

The influence of demographics and working conditions on self-reported injuries among Latino day laborers

Background: The majority of day laborers in the USA are Latinos. They are engaged in high-risk occupations and suffer high occupational injury rates.Objectives: To describe on-the-job injuries reported by Latino day laborers, explore the extent that demographic and occupational factors predict injuries, and whether summative measures for total job types, job conditions, and personal protective equipment (PPE) predict injuries.Methods: A community survey was conducted with 327 participants at 15 corners in Houston, Texas. Hierarchical and multiple logistic regressions explored predictors of occupational injury odds in the last year.Results: Thirty-four percent of respondents reported an occupational injury in the previous year. Education, exposure to loud noises, cold temperatures, vibrating machinery, use of hard hats, total number of job conditions, and total PPE significantly predicted injury odds.Conclusion: Risk for injury among day laborers is not only the product of a specific hazard, but also the result of their exposure to multiple occupational hazards.     

The effects of mandatory seatbelt laws on seatbelt use, motor vehicle fatalities, and crash-related injuries among youths

We provide the first comprehensive assessment of the effects of mandatory seatbelt laws on self-reported seatbelt use, highway fatalities, and crash-related injuries among high school age youths using data from the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) national, state, and local Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS) and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) from 1991 to 2005, a period spanning over 20 changes in state seatbelt laws. Our quasi-experimental approaches isolate the independent effects of seatbelt laws net of demographic characteristics, area and year fixed effects, and smooth area-specific trends. Across all data sources, we find consistent evidence that state mandatory seatbelt laws - particularly those permitting primary enforcement - significantly increased seatbelt use among high school age youths by 45-80%, primarily at the extensive margin. Unlike previous research for adults, however, we find evidence against the selective recruitment hypothesis: seatbelt laws had consistently larger effects on those most likely to be involved in traffic accidents (drinkers, alcohol-involved drivers). We also find that mandatory seatbelt laws significantly reduced traffic fatalities and serious injuries resulting from fatal crashes by 8 and 9%, respectively. Our results suggest that if all states had primary enforcement seatbelt laws then regular youth seatbelt use would be nearly universal and youth fatalities would fall by about 120 per year.     

The impact of transitional programmes on post‐transition outcomes for youth leaving out‐of‐home care: a meta‐analysis

Youth residing in out‐of‐home care settings have often been exposed to childhood trauma, and commonly report experiencing adverse outcomes after transitioning from care. This meta‐analysis appraised internationally published literature investigating the impact of transitional programme participation (among youth with a baseline age of 15–24 years) on post‐transition outcomes of housing, education, employment, mental health and substance use. A comprehensive search of sociology (e.g. ProQuest Sociology), psychology (e.g. PsycInfo) and health (e.g. ProQuest Family Health) electronic abstraction databases was conducted for the period 1990–2014. Search terms included ‘out‐of‐home care’, ‘transition’, ‘housing’, ‘education’, ‘employment’, ‘mental health’ and ‘substance use’. Nineteen studies, all from the United States, met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta‐analysis. Living independently and homelessness were the most commonly described housing outcomes. Rates of post‐transition employment varied, while rates of post‐secondary education were low. Depression and alcohol use were commonly reported among transitioning youth. Findings of the meta‐analysis showed that attention should be given to the potential benefit of transitional programme participation on outcomes such as housing, employment and education. Moderator analyses showed that these benefits may differ based on study design, sample size and sampling unit, but not for mean age or gender. Detailed and rigorous research is needed internationally to examine the characteristics of transitional programmes resulting in more successful outcomes for youth, and whether these outcomes are sustained longitudinally.     

The impact of shift work on the risk and severity of injuries for hospital employees: an analysis using Oregon workers' compensation data

BACKGROUND: While past research on health care workers has found that shift work can lead to negative physiological and psychological consequences, few studies have assessed the extent to which it increases the risk of specific work-related injuries, nor quantified and compared associated types, severity and costs. AIMS: This study aimed to derive and compare the rates, typologies, costs and disability time of injuries for various hospital worker occupations by day, evening and night shift. METHODS: This study used Oregon workers' compensation claim data from 1990 to 1997 to examine the differences in hospital employee claims (n = 7717) by shift and occupation. Oregon hospital employee claim data, hospital employment data from Oregon's Labor Market Information System and shift proportion estimates derived from the Current Population Survey (CPS) were used to calculate injury rate estimates. RESULTS: The injury rate for day shift per 10,000 employees was estimated to be 176 (95% CI 172-180), as compared with injury rate estimates of 324 (95% CI 311-337) for evening shift and 279 (95% CI 257-302), night shift workers. The average number of days taken off for injury disability was longer for injured night shift workers (46) than for day (38) or evening (39) shift workers. CONCLUSION: Evening and night shift hospital employees were found to be at greater risk of sustaining an occupational injury than day shift workers, with those on the night shift reporting injuries of the greatest severity as measured by disability leave. Staffing levels and task differences between shifts may also affect injury risk.     

蓝光对大鼠焦虑、抑郁及睡眠的影响

目的 探究蓝光对SD大鼠焦虑、抑郁及睡眠的影响。方法 动物分为正常光照组、低（100 lx）、中（300 lx）和高（500 lx）剂量蓝光照射组;剥夺蓝光对照组和剥夺蓝光组6个组,低、中、高3个剂量照射组蓝光照射28 d,每天1 h,剥夺蓝光组采用去除蓝光的白光照明饲养28 d。用高架十字迷宫实验、强迫游泳实验及戊巴比妥钠睡眠实验分别观察蓝光照射及去除蓝光对大鼠焦虑、抑郁及睡眠的影响。结果 高架十字迷宫实验各项指标组间差异无显著性。蓝光照射中剂量组动物强迫游泳实验中不动时间减少（P ＜0.05）,剥夺蓝光导致不动时间延长（P ＜0.05）;中剂量组在戊巴比妥钠睡眠实验中大鼠睡眠时间延长（P ＜0.05）,剥夺蓝光对戊巴比妥钠睡眠实验结果无明显影响。结论 蓝光照射不影响大鼠的焦虑状态,300 lx蓝光照射对大鼠有抗抑郁及促进睡眠的作用,而剥夺蓝光会导致大鼠抑郁。     

The demographic and contextual correlates of work‐related repetitive strain injuries among canadian men and women

Background

The study sought to identify gender differences in work‐related repetitive strain injuries (RSI), as well as examine the degree to which non‐work factors such as family roles interact with gender to modify RSI risk. Another aim is to examine whether there are potential provincial differences in work‐related RSI risk.

Methods

The 2003/2005 Canadian Community Health Survey included over 89,000 respondents who reported working in the past 12 months. Separate multi‐level models for men and women were used to identify the correlates of work‐related RSIs.

Results

Women reported sustaining more work‐related RSIs than men. Also, having one or more children in the household was associated with lower work‐related RSI risk for females. Both men and women in British Columbia reported higher work‐related RSI rates than in Ontario.

Conclusions

Gender contributes to RSI risk in multiple and diverse ways based on labor market segregation, non‐work exposures, and possibly biological vulnerability, which suggests more tailored interventions. Also, the provincial differences indicate that monitoring and surveillance of work injury across jurisdictions can assist in province‐wide prevention and occupational health and safety evaluation. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1180–1189, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.