Prevalence and Risk Factors for Hearing Loss in Chilean Shellfish Divers.

BACKGROUND: Diving within artisanal fishing is a profession carried out by many men in coastal communities of southern Chile. These shellfish divers use surface supplied air for breathing. Among potential health threats are occupational accidents, decompression sickness and barotrauma. Repeated middle and inner ear barotrauma and decompression sickness of the ear may result in hearing loss. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of hearing loss and related risk factors in artisanal shellfish divers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study including 125 male shellfish divers was carried out in a coastal village in southern Chile. Participants were interviewed using a standard Spanish questionnaire adapted for this population. Hearing loss was assessed through audiometry. Any hearing loss, sensorineural hearing loss and other types of hearing loss (conduction, unilateral and mixed) were used as the outcomes. Bivariate and multiple logistic regression models were carried out to identify risk factors for hearing loss. FINDINGS: Median duration on the job was 25 years (range 1-52), 64% of divers had a low level of schooling and 52% reported not knowing how to use decompression tables. Most (86%) of the divers dove deeper than 30 meters exceeding the 20 meters permitted by law. The majority (80%) reported having experienced several episodes of type II decompression sickness during their working life. The prevalence of any type of hearing loss was 54.4%: 29.0% presented sensorineural hearing loss and 25.6% presented other types of hearing impairment. After adjustment for age and other potential risk factors, diving more than 25 years was the main predictor for all kinds of hearing loss under study. CONCLUSIONS: Hearing loss is frequent in artisanal shellfish divers and safety measures are limited. Although based on small numbers and lacking an unexposed comparison group, our results suggest the need for community-based interventions.

[Work Disability Prevention: an area of study needed to address the Colombian system challenges in occupational risks]. / Prevención y manejo de la discapacidad para trabajar: un campo de estudios necesario para abordar los retos del sistema colombiano de riesgos laborales.

This paper aims to address the importance of study, introduce and implement the issue of prevention and management of work disability in Colombia. Text structure responses to questions ranging from the current situation of workers and their health in Colombia, from the importance of studying this subject; the approach of the determinants of work disability; its definition, to the challenges settled for different actors in the Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Social involved in the process of prevention, care, rehabilitation, compensation, and return home.

El artículo de revisión temática busca mostrar la importancia que tiene estudiar, introducir e implementar en Colombia el campo Work Disability Prevention, traducido al español como Prevención y Manejo de la Discapacidad para Trabajar, derivado de una investigación doctoral. La revisión se estructura a partir del diálogo entre la revisión de literatura, los hallazgos del análisis del Sistema Colombiano de riesgos Laborales, y los datos de la situación actual de los trabajadores en materia de salud en Colombia, lo cual plantea una serie de interrogantes que estructuran el desarrollo de este artículo. El análisis se realiza desde los factores determinantes de la discapacidad para trabajar, su definición y los retos que esto impone a los diferentes actores dentro del Sistema General de Seguridad Social, implicados en el proceso de prevención, atención, rehabilitación, compensación y retorno al trabajo.

[Medical and legal considerations in whiplash injury]. / Consideraciones médico-legales del esguince cervical.

Whiplash injury usually occurs in people who suffered an automobile accident, but also occurs as a result of physical assault and other mechanisms. Diagnosis and initial management of the patient by the emergency physician or orthopedist, and prescribing indications, are taken into account by two forensic intervention specialists. One of these is the medical officer, who, through analysis of the injury mechanism, establishes a cause-effect relationship and concludes whether the accident suffered by a worker it is related to work or not, determines how long the worker will remain disabled and if the injury caused permanent disability under Federal Labor Law. The medical examiner by injury classification assists the Public Ministry so that it can frame the crime of injury to the Criminal Code of Federal District. For these reasons a review of medical information about the mechanism of injury, diagnosis, treatment and healing time was performed to help both specialists to standardize their approach in their daily activities.

El esguince cervical es una lesión que se presenta en personas que sufrieron un accidente automovilístico, pero también como consecuencia de agresiones físicas y otros mecanismos. El diagnóstico y el manejo inicial del paciente por el médico de urgencias o el ortopedista, así como las indicaciones que prescriben, suelen tomarse en consideración por dos especialistas con intervención médico-legal. Uno de ellos es el médico del trabajo, el cual, mediante un análisis del mecanismo de lesión, establece la relación causa-efecto, califica si el accidente sufrido por un trabajador tiene o no relación con el trabajo, determina cuánto tiempo permanecerá incapacitado y señala si la lesión provocó alguna incapacidad permanente prevista en la Ley Federal del Trabajo. Mediante la clasificación de la lesión, el médico legista auxilia al Ministerio Público para que este pueda encuadrar el delito de lesiones en el Código Penal del Distrito Federal. Por estas razones, se realiza una revisión de la información médica acerca del mecanismo de la lesión, el diagnóstico, el tratamiento y el tiempo de curación, lo cual ayudará a ambos especialistas a establecer el criterio en su actividad cotidiana.

[Needlefish jaw in the orbit]. / La mâchoire d'une orphie dans l'orbite.

We report a case of unsuspected penetrating trauma with intraorbital foreign body, namely a needlefish jaw. A 44-year-old fisherman presented with vertical diplopia and discrete swelling of the upper lid near the medial canthus after being hit by a fish. He was unaware of any penetrating lesion or foreign body. There was no entry wound. CT-scan showed a foreign body between the globe and the medial orbital wall. Surgical exploration found that it was a 4.5cm long needlefish jaw. Removal resulted in complete resolution of symptoms. Needlefish can be very dangerous. This is the first reported case of a needlefish jaw in the orbit with no associated lesion, infection or inflammation.