• 한국직업건강간호학회지
• /
• 제26권3호
• /
• pp.133-141
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between work-related characteristics and job stressors and the factors influencing musculoskeletal symptoms of the warehouse employees. Methods: The research was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Data were collected from 319 warehouse employees who agreed to participate in the study by using self-report questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, $x^2-test$, and logistic regression analysis (SPSS 18.0). Results: The overall prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms was 37.6%. The logistic regression analysis revealed a posture that renders fatigue or pain, repetitive work, and a higher total score of job stressors as the risk factors for musculoskeletal symptoms in many body parts. Conclusion: Employers should plan to educate employees who work in warehouses about the correct working posture to prevent musculoskeletal diseases, stop repetitive work, and manage job stressors.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• 제35권
• /
• pp.52.1-52.13
• /
• 2023

Background: In 2019, the International Agency for Research on Cancer re-evaluated the carcinogenicity of night-shift work and reported that there is limited evidence that night-shift work is carcinogenic for the development of prostate cancer. Therefore, in 2020 and 2021, the Korean Epidemiologic Investigation Evaluation Committee concluded that 2 cases of prostate cancer were occupational diseases related to the night-shift work. Here, we report the 2 cases of prostate cancer in night-shift workers which were first concluded as occupational diseases by the Korean Epidemiologic Investigation Evaluation Committee. Case presentation: Patient A: A 61-year-old man worked as a city bus driver for approximately 17 years, from 2002 to 2019, and was exposed to night-shift work during this period. In March 2017, the patient was diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer through core-needle biopsy after experiencing stinging pain lasting for 2 months. Patient B: A 56-year-old man worked as an electrician and an automated equipment operator in a cement manufacturing plant for 35 years from 1976 to 2013 and was exposed to night-shift work during this period. In 2013, the patient was diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer through core needle biopsy at a university hospital because of dysuria that lasted for 6 months. Conclusions: The 2 workers were diagnosed with high-grade prostate cancer after working night shifts for 17 and 35 years respectively. Additionally, previous studies have reported that high-grade prostate cancer has a stronger relationship with night-shift work than low or medium-grade prostate cancer. Therefore, the Korean Epidemiologic Investigation Evaluation Committee concluded that night-shift work in these 2 patients contributed to the development of their prostate cancer.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• 제39권3호
• /
• pp.286-298
• /
• 2006

The study aimed to identify major factors related to global self-rated health of the community-dwelling elderly people in rural areas. Interviews were conducted with 433 persons over 65 years of age. The socio-economic characteristics, chronic disease status, measures of functional and mental health, life satisfaction, health-related behaviors including smoking, drinking, exercise, social activity, dietary habit, and food intakes were analyzed to determine their influence on self-rated health index. Data on food intake were obtained through the 24-hour recall method. The self-rated health of rural elderly was poor or very poor as reported by 42.6% and 52.4% of the men and women, respectively. Poor self-rated health was found to be related to elderly aged $65{\sim}74$, female, absence of work, more chronic diseases, dependence on Instrumental Activity Daily Living (IADL), higher mental unhealthy days, lower current life satisfaction, less social activity, lower dietary habit scores, lower intake of total food, fruit, eggs, fishes & shell fishes, vitamin C (%RDA), and Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR). The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that poor self-rated health index is significantly associated with more chronic diseases, mental unhealthy days, gastrointestinal disease, musculoskeletal disease, less social activity, and lower intake of fruits. The results also suggested that improving the nutritional status and functional ability, and reducing the burden of chronic diseases are beneficial to the self-rated health index of the elderly.

• 대한안전경영과학회지
• /
• 제14권4호
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 2012

This study attempted to evaluate the direct and indirect effect of emotional labor, job and psychosocial stress, and fatigue of beauty industry workers on their musculoskeletal diseases. The findings of this study showed that, among the workers with perceived symptoms of musculoskeletal diseases, the body part with the most commonly occurring symptom was the shoulder, followed by neck, low back, wrist, arm, foot and knee. As for the effect of work-related psychological factors on musculoskeletal diseases, it was found that the workers with musculoskeletal diseases were more affected by emotional labor and fatigue than non-symptom workers. It was also shown that when their job stress increased, the fatigue level also increased, though their psychosocial stress decreased. In addition, it was found that both direct and indirect effects of emotional labor on fatigue were high, and the indirect effect of job stress through fatigue on musculoskeletal diseases was significant.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• /
• 제34권
• /
• pp.31.1-31.14
• /
• 2022

Background: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) in occupational disease claims and identify patterns of WRMSDs for each body part by industry and occupation. Methods: This study analyzed the raw data of occupational disease claims for musculoskeletal disorders deliberated by the Occupational Disease Decision Committee of the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service in 2020. The data was classified into 6 body parts with the highest numbers of occupational disease cases by using the complete enumeration data on principal diagnoses and 4 types of subdiagnoses in the raw data. The characteristics and approval rates of WRMSDs by body part, industry and occupation were examined and summarized. Results: A total of 13,015 occupational disease cases for WRMSDs were classified, and lumbar spinal (back) diseases accounted for the largest proportion of claimed diseases, followed by shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, and neck diseases in a descending order. The occupations with the highest and second highest numbers of occupational disease cases by body part were found to be automobile assemblers and production-related elementary workers for the neck, school meal service workers and cooks for the back, construction frame mold carpenters and school meal service workers for the shoulder, elementary workers in mining and food service workers for the elbow, food service workers and automobile parts assemblers for the wrist, and ship welders and school meal service workers for the knee. Conclusions: This study examined the characteristics and approval status of WRMSDs by body part and occupation. Based on the study results, management strategies for the prevention of WRMSDs should be established regarding occupations with a high risk of WRMSDs for each body part.

• 한국조리학회지
• /
• 제14권3호
• /
• pp.16-30
• /
• 2008

Rapid change of surroundings has been influencing the work environment for cooks, making it more convenient; however, there are still many difficulties to improve. Especially, cooks are exposed to lots of occupational diseases due to tension and pressure as well as noise, high temperature and humidity in their work place. This study examines cooks' operational exhaustion caused by cooking operation and cooking circumstances. The analyzed result shows the job fatigue related to the general features of the cooks(such as charged cooking part, types of engaged business, class of position, cooking career, and working hours). For example, pains on the neck, back, arms and wrist are mostly affected by the charged cooking parts. Effects related to the types of engaged business, backaches usually occurred in Catering, pains in shoulder from serving at hotels and eye-tiredness from meal serving. As for working hours, most of backaches occurred from over 13-hour-work, and pains in shoulder and eye-tiredness under 8-hour-work. Pains in legs, tiredness, and the change of weight do not have any relations withthe general features of the cooks statistically(p>0.05).

• 한국멀티미디어학회논문지
• /
• 제21권12호
• /
• pp.1481-1492
• /
• 2018

Musculoskeletal disorders show symptoms of pain and dysfunction caused by accumulation of minute damage on nerves and blood vessels which are related to specific body parts. This is more likely to occur in the elderly. In Korea, 40.3% of the agricultural population is over 65 years old. In these cases, the portion of musculoskeletal disorders is more than 80% in acute/chronic diseases related to agricultural work. Therefore, measures for physical health care and safety prevention of elderly farmers are needed. In this study, we intend to propose a method to measure musculoskeletal health condition through the motion recognition device and VR contents. For this, we analyze the agricultural work causing musculoskeletal disorders of farmers, and suggest a motion analysis algorithm that can measure the health condition of the musculoskeletal system. In addition, we are going to propose a training method customized for farmers on the basis of VR contents in order to prevent musculoskeletal disorders.

• 한국수산과학회지
• /
• 제47권4호
• /
• pp.341-346
• /
• 2014

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also termed prion diseases, are a threat to food safety and to human and animal health. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans is caused by the consumption of meat contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, mad cow disease). The BSE epidemic in the United Kingdom was shown to be related with the extensive use of BSE-contaminated meat-and-bone meal (MBM) and bovine offal. Many countries worldwide use MBM, as well as meat from cows, for aquaculture feed. This raises concerns about the safety of farmed fish, a major protein source for humans. The present work reviews recent studies on fish prion protein and the transmissibility of mammalian prion agents to fish, providing insights into the future direction of fish prion research.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• 제15권1호
• /
• pp.53-58
• /
• 2024

Background: As social distancing persists and interest in work-life balance grows, more companies are adopting flexible work policies. While there have been studies on sleep disorders associated with different types of work, such as shift work, research exploring the relationship between flexible work schedules and sleep disorders is still limited, particularly among Korean workers. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the 6th Korean Working Conditions Survey, focusing on 31,243 paid workers out of a total of 50,538 participants. We defined flexible workers as those who set their own working hours. Sleep disorders were divided into three categories: 'difficulty falling asleep,' 'frequent waking during sleep,' and 'waking up feeling exhausted and fatigued.' Using scores derived from three specific symptoms, the Minimal Insomnia Symptoms Scale (MISS) was calculated to assess the prevalence of insomnia. We used chi-square tests to analyze demographic and job-related differences. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to identify any relationship between flexible work schedules and sleep disorders. Results: Significant differences were found between flexible and non-flexible workers regarding age, income level, education level, and job type. Flexible workers reported sleep-related symptoms significantly more often. The odds ratio for insomnia was 1.40 (95% CI 1.21-1.61). For males, the odds ratio was 1.68 (1.36-2.08). Conclusion: This study establishes a correlation between flexible work schedules and sleep disorders among Korean salaried workers. Potential causes could include changes in circadian rhythm, increased work demands, and extended working hours. To precisely determine causality and associated diseases, further research is required.

• 한국직업건강간호학회지
• /
• 제32권4호
• /
• pp.131-140
• /
• 2023

Purpose: We reviewed the cases of occupational diseases that occurred in healthcare workers from 2010 to 2019 and the cases of epidemiological investigations conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute for them. Methods: In this study, gender, age, working period, occupational characteristics, and disease characteristics by occupation, which are general characteristics of healthcare workers approved for occupational diseases. In addition, 32 cases of epidemiological investigation of healthcare workers conducted by the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for the past 10 years (2010~2019) were analyzed. Results: The gender, age, working period, occupational characteristics, and disease characteristics by occupation of medical workers recognized as occupational diseases were all statistically significant (p<.001). In the epidemiological investigation, ionizing radiation( 50.0%) and stress (33.3%) were recognized as disease-related factors, and even in cases of disapproval, ionizing radiation (60.0%) and shift work (25.5%) were designated as related factors. And it was statistically significant (p=.008). Conclusion: The current study identified the types of diseases, various causes, and general characteristics and occupational characteristics that occur frequently in healthcare workers. Therefore, if this study is used as basic information to set the priority and direction of disease prevention project for healthcare workers, it is judged that it will be helpful in preventing industrial accidents.