BACKGROUND: This study investigated the prevalence of tinnitus and relationship between tinnitus and hearing disturbance of workers with noise-induced hearing loss. METHODS: One hundred thirty three workers with noise-induced hearing loss responded to a self-admiministered questionaire concerning tinnitus, present symptoms and past medical history. Also pure tone audiometry, tympanometry and otoscopic examination was done. RESULTS: The prevalence of tinnitus was 54.14%. There were no significant difference in the prevalence of tinnitus according to age, symptoms (fatigue, sleep disturbance and dizziness), duration of noise exposure, wearing of ear protector, and duration of self-reported hearing difficulty. However, the location of more serious tinnitus was significantly associated with subjective hearing disturbance. CONCLUSION: In hearing conservation program of workers with noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus management has to be considered as an essential part of the program.
Acoustic Impedance Tests ; Audiometry ; Ear ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced* ; Noise ; Prevalence ; Tinnitus*

Physical environmental factors have been found to increase the risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in a variety of occupations. To date little is known about the influence of physical environmental factors in the cabin of an airplane on WMSDs among flight attendants. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-reported physical environment factors in the cabin and WMSDs in the neck, shoulder, upper back, and lower back among U.S. female flight attendants on long-haul international flights. A cross-sectional mailed survey was conducted with 185 female fight attendants working on long-haul international flights. The physical environment measure included 12 items regarding cabin-air quality, noise, lighting, and whole-body vibration. WMSDs were measured by the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Symptom Survey. The percentage of flight attendants who had WMSDs for each body region varied from 31% to 54%. The majority (>80%) of the flight attendants often or always experienced low humidity, stuffy air, and little air movement while working in the cabin. Being frequently exposed to unfavorable cabin environmental factors increased the risk of neck (OR=2.89), shoulder (OR=2.96), and upper-back WMSDs (OR=2.14). Cabin environmental factors should be taken into account when examining the risk factors for WMSDs.
Air Movements ; Aircraft ; Body Regions ; Female* ; Humans ; Humidity ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (U.S.) ; Neck ; Noise ; Occupations ; Postal Service ; Risk Factors ; Shoulder ; Vibration ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and other disorders. Several studies have shown that excess weight or weight gain was related to the decline of pulmonary function. This study is to find out whether pilot's age, height, body weight, body mass index(BMI) and smoking are related to the baseline measurement of pulmonary function in order to promote the healthy behavior of pilots. METHOD: The analysis was based on data from the annual physical examination of pilots which was conducted in one airlines company of Korea. This study compared the data obtained from 73 pilots in 1996 with the data in 2002. Pulmonary function(forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and maximal mid expiratory flow (MMEF), peak expiratory flow (PEF)), age, height, body weight and body mass index were measured in both surveys. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to examine the relationship weight gain, smoking and pulmonary function. RESULTS: According to the data from 2002, mean age, mean height, mean body weight and mean BMI of pilots were examined: 47.62 years, 171.60 cm, 70.6 Kg and 24.03 Kg/m(2). Age was significantly related to FVC, FEV1 and MMEF. Height was significantly related to FVC and FEV1. However, body weight was significantly related to PEF and MMEF. The effect of smoking on pulmonary function was not significant. Pilots who gained body weight and BMI after 7 years were not related significantly to the pulmonary function. CONCLUSION: This study shows that age, height, weight are significantly related to pulmonary function. And other studies show that weight gain is significantly related to the decline of pulmonary function, but the relationship from this study is not significant because the number of sample is not enough and healthy behaviors of most pilots are relatively well.
Body Height ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Forced Expiratory Volume ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Multivariate Analysis ; Obesity ; Physical Examination ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vital Capacity ; Weight Gain

BACKGROUND: Time of useful consciousness is related with various factors including smoking, age, sex, drug, and temperature. It is still unclear whether acute hypoxia tolerance is different between male and female. METHOD: We included 32 healthy students (male, n=16; female, n=16) volunteered to participate in this study. The blood hemoglobin concentration was measured at a day before flight. With high altitude rapid decompression flight training chamber, flight to simulated altitude of 25,000 ft was performed after nitrogen extraction breath. At 25,000 ft, heart rate and arterial O2 saturation (SaO2) were measured by using pulse oximeter after taking off oxygen mask. We compared the duration from mask-off to the time at 60% SaO2 between male and female and correlated the time at 60% SaO2 with hemoglobin concentration. RESULTS: The duration from mask-off to SaO2 reaching 60% were significantly longer in the male group. There was a linear relationship between hemoglobin concentration and time at 60% SaO2. CONCLUSION: Acute hypoxia tolerance differs from the two sexes and the difference of hemoglobin concentration is one of possible causative factors of this difference.
Altitude ; Anoxia* ; Consciousness ; Decompression ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Male ; Masks ; Nitrogen ; Oxygen ; Smoke ; Smoking

BACKGROUND: The pilots with cardiovascular events have a possibility for a risk of suffering from sudden incapacitation which is closely related to flying safety. The coagulation factors such as fibrinogen, factor VII, and factor VIII are possibly related to cardiovascular events. Several studies for general population have shown that an increase of those coagulation factors with age, a correlation of Factor VII and fibrinogen with BMI, and of fibrinogen with smoking. However, this study is to find out whether pilots' age, body weight, body mass index (BMI) and smoking are related to the baseline measurement of coagulation factor VII, factor VIII and fibrinogen. METHOD: Samples were taken from 21 pilots from Asiana Airlines: 11 smokers and 10 non-smokers. In order to measure the relationship between age, body weight, BMI, and the coagulation factors, Pearson correlation was used in this analysis. Independent two sampled t-test was used to analyze the correlation between smoking and the coagulation factors. RESULTS: Mean age, mean height, mean body weight and mean BMI of pilots were examined: 38 years, 171.81 cm, 70.67 Kg and 23.94 Kg/m(2). Mean fibrinogen, mean factor VII, and mean factor VIII were also obtained: 236.0 mg/dl, 92.93%, and 60.16%. The coagulation factor VII, factor VIII and fibrinogen were not significant related to age, body weight, BMI, smoking of pilots. CONCLUSION: This study has no correlation between age, body weight, BMI, smoking and the coagulation factors because the age of this study does not have pilots with over 60 years old and healthy behaviors (e.g., exercise, smoking, drinking, etc.) of most pilots are relatively well.
Blood Coagulation Factors* ; Body Height* ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight* ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Diptera ; Drinking ; Factor VII* ; Factor VIII ; Fibrinogen* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Smoke* ; Smoking*

No abstract available.
Nervous System*

BACKGROUND: The aims of the study are to investigate the present state of occupational health management (OHM) in small enterprises, to explore the related factors, and to provide the information for effective policy of OHM in those enterprises. METHODS: The study subjects were 155 small enterprises that had referred the measurement of workplace hazards to a hospital at the East Seoul, Korea. Self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted by Fax. The contents of the survey were present state of OHM and related factors. RESULTS: 1. The characteristics of OHM in charge were as follows; among the health manager (1) 81.9% had the high authority, (2) 63.2% could explain workplace hazard, (3) 52.9% had outside professional education, (4) 49.7% recognized the need for occupational health, and (5) 67.7% had pragmatic perspective on workers' health protection. 2. The occupational health activities that showed higher performance rate were as follows; periodic health examination (86.5%), measurement of workplace hazard (92.9%). The occupational health activities that showed lower performance rate were as follows; appointment of emergency hospital (26.5%), replacement health examination (18.1%), health education (30.0%), health promotion (23.3%), preparation of health statistics (14.8%), planning health management (9.7%) 3. As results of multiple logistic regression analysis, the factors associated with the higher activity of occupational health were longer duration(more than 5 years) of health manager in charge(OR=2.41), pragmatic perspective on workers' health protection (OR=3.79), experience of outside professional education (OR=2.40), repair of automobiles(OR=3.31), workplace that employed more than 10 workers (OR=4.02), history of workers' compensation (OR=8.05), employers' high concern (OR=4.61). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that interest of employers and appointment of suitable health manager in charge were important, and minimum regulations and the development of occupational health program integrated with promoting productivity are required to activate occupational health in small enterprise
Education, Professional ; Efficiency ; Emergencies ; Health Education ; Health Promotion ; Korea ; Logistic Models ; Occupational Health ; Seoul ; Social Control, Formal ; Workers' Compensation ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The aims of the study are to evaluate the effectiveness of a workplace smoking cessation program, and to investigate the role of the occupational characteristics for planning better smoking cessation program (SCP). METHOD: 258 workers' smoking statuses were surveyed. A follow up survey was conducted after 6 Month SCP including campaign, health education, provision of nicotine patches, and smoking cessation incentives. Theup rate was 89.2%. RESULTS: 1. Thesmoking rate was reduced from 67.4% (before SCP) to 45.3 %. The rates after SCP were different by the type of job and the status of employment. The participation rate of the office workers was 32.8%, and that of the technician was 55.6% (p<0.01). The rate of the regular workers was 59.4%, and that of the irregular workers was 36.8% (p<0.05). 2. Among of 174 smokers, 55.9% participated in SCP. According to the type of job and the job position, the participation rate was different. The rate of office workers was 69.9%, and that of the technician was 47.5% (p<0.01). Among the managerial personnel 86.4% participated in SCP, and amongthe plain workers, 52.5% (p<0.01). 3. In multivariate analysis, the smoking cessation rate was higher in office workers (OR=3.21), the group of lower job demand (OR=3.12), that of absence of family stress (OR=2.91), and that of lower perceived stress (OR=3.51). CONCLUSION: The SCP based on social-cognitive theory reduced smoking rate, but increased the difference of the smoking rates by the type of the job. These results suggest that the SCP using social-context model is important to establish the better strategy to stop the smokin
Education ; Employment ; Follow-Up Studies ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Motivation ; Multivariate Analysis ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking* ; Tobacco Use Cessation Products

BACKGROUND: We studied gender difference in prevalence, risk factors, medical management, workplace activities for the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal diseases (WMSDs), and the role of gender in analysis of the factors affecting the prevalence of WMSDs. METHODS: In 3, 339 workers at 29 workplace, questionaire survey was conducted. The questionaire was consisted of personal factors, perceived workload and ergonomic factors (modified KOSHA code H-30), perceived job stress (modified Karasek model). musculoskeletal symptoms, medical management, workplace activities for the prevention of WMSDs. RESULTS: Female workers' overall prevalence of WMSDs (37.4%) was higher than that of male workers (18.9%), and there are many differences in the prevalence by the involved site of the body. The rate of personal risk factors, perceived workload, ergonomic risk factors, and the perceived job stress were higher in female workers than those of male workers. In gender-sensitive multivariate analysis, female worker's prevalence of WMSDs was higher in regular workers (OR=2.08), manufacturing, professional, service workers (OR, 2.25, 3.89, 3.26, respectively)). It was also associated with higher perceived workload (OR, 1.48~1.74), higher ergonomic risk (OR, 1.86~3.65), high job demand (OR=1.62), and low social support by co-workers (OR=1.29). The prevalence of WMSDs of male workers was higher in people living with dependent (OR=1.39), manufacturing workers (OR=1.54), but lower in service workers (OR=0.54). It was also associated with high workload (OR=1.98), higher ergonomic risk (OR, 3.26~5.55), and lower job control (OR=1.39). CONCLUSION: These results showed that female workers' high prevalence of WMSDs is the reflection of 'gendered' workplace, i.e. all aspects of WMSDs have profound association with gender from risk factors to medical management. Therefore, gender-sensitive analysis can reveal more realistic factors affecting WMSDs, and provide more valuable implications in prevention of WMSDs.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Musculoskeletal Diseases* ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: Antioxidants vitamin C and vitamin E may protect against the toxic effect of oxygen free radicals that are preferentially produced after exposures to hyperbaric oxygen (HBO). This study investigated the effect of vitamin C and vitamin E on serum nitric oxide (NO) concentration and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression on lung after HBO exposure. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200 to 250 g were exposed to HBO at 3 ATA of 100% O2 for 3 hours. The experimental groups were given vitamin C (125 mg/day per rat) and/or vitamin E (50 mg/day per rat) orally, from 5 days prior to the HBO exposure to the day of sacrifice. Serum NO concentrations were determined by measuring NO end product nitrite by non-enzymatic Griess assay. Expression of ICAM-1 on lung was observed by immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: The serum nitrite levels were significantly increased after HBO exposure and were higher at 24 hours after HBO exposure than at 0 h (P<0.05). The expression of ICAM-1 was weak immediately after HBO exposure and enhanced at 24 hours. There were no pronounced suppressive effects of vitamins on serum NO production and ICAM-1 expression induced by the 3 hours HBO exposure. CONCLUSION: The 3 hours HBO exposure induces the serum NO production and ICAM-1 expression on lung. The short-term supplementation of vitamin C or/and E do not suppress the NO production and ICAM-1 expression on lung.
Animals ; Antioxidants ; Ascorbic Acid ; Free Radicals ; Humans ; Hyperbaric Oxygenation ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; Lung ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; Oxygen* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins*