RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between occupational exposure to various hazards and hospital admission due to endocrine diseases in Korean male firefighters. METHODS: From 2000 to 2008, former and current male firefighters registered in the Korean National Emergency Management Agency were investigated based on their hospitalized health insurance admission data for the same period. Admission data for endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases were obtained from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. Standardized admission ratio (SAR) with reference to the general population of Korean men was analyzed. RESULTS: SAR for firefighters with endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases was 0.56 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49-0.65), which was significantly less than that of the general population of Korean men. For those with endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases, SARs for those with a history of fire suppression tasks and those without experience of fire suppression tasks were 0.58 (95% CI: 0.49-0.68) and 0.53 (95% CI: 0.40-0.70), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The admission rate of Korean male firefighters due to endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases was significantly lower than that of the general Korean men population, the hazardous potential of endocrine disruptors remains an open question. Further studies of firefighters with longer follow-up are needed.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the association between job stress and suicide ideation/attempts among display manufacturing workers. METHODS: Data were collected from 836 workers in a display manufacturing company who participated in health screenings from May 22 to June 16, 2017. The data included general characteristics, night work, job tenure, previous physician-diagnosed chronic diseases, suicidal ideation/suicide attempts, and job stress. We investigated suicidal ideation/suicide attempts that covered the past year by using a self-reported questionnaire. Job stress was measured using the 43-item Korean Occupational Stress Scale. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between job stress and suicidal ideation/suicide attempts. The mediator effect of depression on suicidal ideation/suicide attempts was tested using a series of logistic regression by applying Baron and Kenny's mediation method. RESULTS: In the model adjusting for variables (e.g., age, body mass index, smoking, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, shift work, job tenure, chronic disease and depression), physical environment (OR: 3.60, 95% CI: 1.08-12.02), lack of reward (OR: 5.31, 95% CI: 1.54-18.34), and occupation climate (OR: 7.36, 95% CI: 2.28-23.72) were correlated with suicidal ideation/suicide attempts in women. However, all subscales of job stress were not significantly correlated with suicidal ideation/suicide attempts in men. In mediation analysis, job instability and occupational climate were correlated with suicidal ideation/suicide attempts and were mediated by depression in men workers. CONCLUSIONS: In women workers, the experiences of suicidal ideation/suicide attempts were significantly correlated with the physical environment, lack of reward, and occupational climate that were subscales of job stress. In men workers, depression rather than job stress was correlated with experiences of suicidal ideation/suicide attempts.
