Extreme temperatures and sickness absence in the Mediterranean province of Barcelona: An occupational health issue.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the association between daily temperature and sickness absence episodes in the Mediterranean province of Barcelona between 2012 and 2015, according to sociodemographic and occupational characteristics. Methods: Ecological study of a sample of salaried workers affiliated to the Spanish social security, resident in Barcelona province between 2012 and 2015. The association between daily mean temperature and risk of new sickness absence episodes was estimated with distributed lag non-linear models. The lag effect up to 1 week was considered. Analyses were repeated separately by sex, age groups, occupational category, economic sector and medical diagnosis groups of sickness absence. Results: The study included 42,744 salaried workers and 97,166 episodes of sickness absence. The risk of sickness absence increased significantly between 2 and 6 days after the cold day. For hot days there was no association with risk of sickness absence. Women, young, non-manual and workers in the service sector had a higher risk of sickness absence on cold days. The effect of cold on sickness absence was significant for respiratory system diseases (RR: 2.16; 95%CI: 1.68-2.79) and infectious diseases (RR: 1.31; 95%CI: 1.04-1.66). Conclusion: Low temperatures increase the risk of having a new episode of sickness absence, especially due to respiratory and infectious diseases. Vulnerable groups were identified. These results suggest the importance of working in indoor and possibly poorly ventilated spaces in the spread of diseases that eventually lead to an episode of sickness absence. It is necessary to develop specific prevention plans for cold situations.

Occupational health, frontline workers and COVID-19 lockdown: new gender-related inequalities?

INTRODUCTION: The abrupt onset of COVID-19, with its rapid spread, has had brutal consequences in all areas of society, including the workplace. In this paper, we report the working conditions, health, and tranquilisers and opioid analgesics use of workers during the first months of the ensuing pandemic, according to whether they were frontline workers or not and also according to sex. METHODS: Our analysis is based on cross-sectional survey data (collected during April and May 2020) from the wage-earning population in Spain (n=15 070). We estimate prevalences, adjusted prevalence differences and adjusted prevalence ratios by sex and according to whether the worker is a frontline worker or not. RESULTS: Employment and working conditions, exposure to psychosocial risks, as well as health status and the consumption of tranquilisers and opioid analgesics all showed sex and sectoral (frontline vs non-frontline) inequalities, which placed essential women workers in a particularly vulnerable position. Moreover, the consumption of tranquilisers and opioid analgesics increased during the pandemic and health worsened significantly among frontline women workers. CONCLUSIONS: The exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to revalue essential sectors and to dignify such employment and working conditions, especially among women. There is an urgent need to improve working conditions and reduce occupational risk, particularly among frontline workers. In addition, this study highlights the public health problem posed by tranquilisers and opioid analgesics consumption, especially among frontline women.

Which are the intermediate determinants of gender inequalities in mental health?: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Gender segmentation in the labour market and women's greater burden of domestic work and caregiving increase their risk of developing mental health problems, especially in vulnerable social groups. AIMS: The objectives of this study were to identify and describe the role of working and labour conditions, domestic work and caregiving and social support in gender inequalities in mental health, as well as to assess whether studies have taken an intersectional approach, describing its role in gender inequalities in mental health. METHODS: We carried out a systematic review of scientific articles published between 2010 and 2019 in PubMed, Scopus, WoS and PsycInfo, in Spanish and English, conducted in the European Economic Area in populations aged between 25 and 65 years. Studies were excluded if they were qualitative, focused on sexual identity or factors based on biological differences, or considered use of medical services, medicalisation or suicide as the outcome variable. RESULTS: A total of 30 articles were included, of which only four concerned studies in which intersectional analysis had been performed. The mental health of men was seen to be more influenced by employment conditions and that of women by working conditions, the double presence and civil status. Further, depending on the size of the household (women) and unemployment (men), people in lower social classes had poorer mental health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The results may be useful for designing policies focused on reducing gender inequalities in mental health. Additionally, they show the need for taking an intersectional perspective.

Role of employment-related inequalities in young adults' life satisfaction: A comparative study in five European welfare state regimes.

AIMS: There is evidence that young people are less satisfied with their lives when they are unemployed or working in precarious conditions. This study aims to shed light on how the life satisfaction of unemployed and precariously employed young people varies across welfare states with different labour market policies and levels of social protection. METHODS: The analyses are based on representative cross-sectional survey data from five European countries (Denmark, the UK, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic), corresponding to five different welfare state regimes. For economically active young adults ( N=6681), the prevalence ratios of low life satisfaction were estimated through multivariate logistic regressions. RESULTS: In all five countries, unemployed young adults presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. When we compared employees with people with permanent and temporary contracts, the former were more satisfied with their lives only in Germany and the UK, examples of conservative and liberal welfare regimes, respectively. Experience of unemployment decreased young adults' life satisfaction only in Germany and the Czech Republic, examples of a conservative and an eastern European welfare regime, respectively. In almost all countries, young adults with low economic self-sufficiency presented a higher prevalence of low life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: There are nuanced patterns of employment type and life satisfaction across European states that hint at welfare state regimes as possible moderators in this relationship. The results suggest that the psychological burdens of unemployment or work uncertainty cannot be overlooked and should be addressed according to different types of social provisions.

How unemployment and precarious employment affect the health of young people: A scoping study on social determinants.

BACKGROUND: The impact of unemployment and precarious employment on the health of young people is not well understood. However, according to social causation, higher socio-economic positions and thus better working conditions are beneficial to health in general. We tried to synthesize the results of studies that test this hypothesis in the case of young people. METHODS: We conducted a scoping study mapping all the academic articles published in the period 2006-2016 in Europe. The literature was searched in PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, Web of Science and Scopus. RESULTS: We identified 1770 studies, of which only 46 met the inclusion criteria. There are more studies that focus on the relationship between unemployment and health than between precarious employment and health (28 and 16, respectively). The vast majority of the studies (44) found support for the social causation hypothesis, the most common health outcomes being mental health disorders, health risk behaviour, poor quality of life and occupational injuries. The causal mechanisms behind this association relied mainly on the life-course perspective, the breadwinner model, and the lack of social and economic benefits provided by standard employment. CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence that young people are especially vulnerable to health problems when unemployed or working in precarious conditions. Active labour market and training programmes, inclusive social security measures, improved working conditions and targeted health programmes are important for addressing this vulnerability. Further research should strive to enhance the causal model by including a gender perspective, longitudinal data, more indicators on precariousness and third factor explanations.

The changing patterns of psychosocial exposures at work in the south of Europe: Spain as a labor market laboratory.

AIMS: To examine the pattern of psychosocial risk exposures at work among wage-earners in Spain in 2005 and 2010, and to analyze changes in exposure inequalities by gender and job category. METHODS: Psychosocial exposures were compared using the COPSOQ-ISTAS21 method, based on two surveys representative of the Spanish wage-earning population (2005 and 2010). Statistical analysis was conducted using correspondence analysis. RESULTS: There was an increase in exposure to high Double Presence, low Social Support, high Work Pace, and high Insecurity about finding a job; and reduction in exposure to high Insecurity about losing a job, and to high Insecurity over worsening of employment conditions. A gender- and occupation-related gradient was maintained. CONCLUSION: Although this study analyzes wage-earner "survivors" after the outbreak of the current economic crisis, it shows a worsening of harmful exposures to some psychosocial risks. In a context of job destruction, concerns about worsening working conditions appear to be subordinate to insecurity about job loss.

The copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire II (COPSOQ II) in Spain--a tool for psychosocial risk assessment at the workplace.

AIMS: To describe the second version of the Spanish Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and to present evidence of its validity and reliability. METHODS: The original Danish long COPSOQ II questionnaire was adapted to the labor market, cultural, and linguistic setting of Spain and included in the 2010 Spanish Psychosocial Risks Survey. Analysis involved the assessment of psychometric characteristics and associations among psychosocial scales and health scales. Medium and short versions were derived from the long one. RESULTS: The long questionnaire was configured with 24 dimensions (92 items); medium-length questionnaire with 20 dimensions (69 items); and short questionnaire with 14 dimensions (28 items). All scales showed acceptable reliability and concordance between versions. Most associations among psychosocial scales and Mental Health, Stress, and Burnout scales were in the expected direction, except the scale of Influence, that showed some incongruent associations. CONCLUSION: Results support the validity and reliability of Spanish COPSOQ II questionnaires as tools for psychosocial risk assessment at the workplace, however, better scales should be developed specially for the dimension of Influence.