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Biomedical subjects

H Burr

Publications and source records attributed to H Burr.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The risk of infertility among hairdressers. Five-year follow-up of female hairdressers in a Danish national registry.

BACKGROUND: One in seven married couples is involuntarily infertile. Several chemical exposures in the work environment have been hypothesized to affect female reproduction, and some are present in products used in hairdressing and related trades. Recent Swedish findings indicate that employment in hairdressing poses a risk for female reproductive function. This study examined the possible association between work as a hairdresser and subsequent hospital contact due to female infertility. METHODS: A cohort of all women in Denmark aged 20-44 years on 1 January 1998 (baseline) and registered as economically active hairdressers, according to national registers, was formed to calculate age-standardized risk ratios (RRs) for hospital contacts due to female infertility during a 5-year follow-up period. Hairdressers were compared to a standard population, that is, all economically active women in Denmark aged 20-44 years at baseline, and to women working as shop assistants. RESULTS: Sixty-eight cases of hospital contact due to female infertility were observed among the female hairdressers. On the basis of the standard population, the expected number was 73.27, which gives an observed RR of 0.928 (95% CI: 0.72-1.18). Hairdressers and shop assistants exhibited similar rates of hospital contact due to female infertility (1.01; 95% CI: 0.77-1.29). CONCLUSION: The findings are not corroborating the hypothesis that hairdressers are at increased risk of infertility, but small risks in the entire group or high risks in small subgroups may not be detected by the study.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

A 12 year prospective study of circulatory disease among Danish shift workers.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies of the risk of heart disease after shift work reached different estimates and review authors disagree about the validity of some of the studies. A cross sectional study showed that shift workers had a higher prevalence of nearly every unfavourable work environment factor investigated. Conflicts at work and low decision latitude were more frequent among shift workers, and all-day walking or standing work and part-time jobs were more often found among female shift workers. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the risk of circulatory disease in a prospective follow up of a representative sample of gainfully employed Danes, considering known or suspected confounding factors. METHODS: A cohort of 5517 people who were gainfully employed in 1990 were followed up for all hospital treatments due to circulatory diseases (390-458, ICD-8; I00-I99, ICD-10) from 1991 to 2002 inclusive. A log linear Poisson regression model was applied to control confounding factors and calculate the relative risk for 927 men and women working nights, evenings, or other non-day shifts compared to 4579 day workers. RESULTS: Non-day workers compared to day workers had a relative risk (RR) for all circulatory diseases of 1.31 (95% CI 1.06-1.63). Without control for BMI and smoking, the RR estimate was 1.33 (95% CI 1.07-1.65). For a subgroup of workers with at least three years' seniority, the RR was 1.40 (95% CI 1.09-1.81). The population based aetiological fraction of shift work was estimated to 5%. CONCLUSION: This study adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that shift work carries an excess risk of circulatory diseases.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Prolonged standing at work and hospitalisation due to varicose veins: a 12 year prospective study of the Danish population.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that prolonged standing at work is associated with the development of diseases of varicose veins (VV). AIMS: To assess the risk of hospitalisation due to VV in the lower extremities prospectively in workers standing or walking at least 75% of their time at work. METHODS: A representative random sample of 9653 working age adults was drawn from the Central Population Register of Denmark in 1991. Of these, 8664 accepted to be interviewed by telephone (response rate 90%). Respondents (2939 men and 2708 women) were 20-59 years old and employed in 1990. Risk ratios for VV were estimated by log-linear Poisson regression models separately for men and women with adjustment for smoking status, body mass index (BMI), heavy lifting, and, for females only, number of children at baseline. RESULTS: During 12 years of follow up, 40 hospitalisations due to VV were observed among the men and 71 among the women. For employees with jobs that require prolonged standing or walking compared to all other employees, the relative risk was 1.75 (95% CI 0.92 to 3.34) for men and 1.82 (95% CI 1.12 to 2.95) for women. The pooled estimate of the relative risk was 1.78 (95% CI 1.19 to 2.68). The aetiological fraction of prolonged standing or walking at work was estimated as 22.5% for men and 22.6% for women. CONCLUSIONS: This prospective study confirms that prolonged standing at work constitutes an excess risk of hospital treatment due to varicose veins and accounts for more than one fifth of all cases of working age.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Do factors in the psychosocial work environment mediate the effect of socioeconomic position on the risk of myocardial infarction? Study from the Copenhagen Centre for Prospective Population Studies.

AIM: To investigate whether the effect of socioeconomic position on risk of myocardial infarction (MI) is mediated by differential exposure or differential susceptibility to psychosocial work environment. METHODS: Data were used from three prospective population studies conducted in Copenhagen. A total of 16 214 employees, 44% women, aged 20-75 years, with initial examination between 1974 and 1992 were followed until 1996 for incident (hospital admission or death) MI. Register based information on job categories was used. Psychosocial job exposures were measured indirectly by means of a job exposure matrix based on the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study 1990. RESULTS: During follow up, 731 subjects were diagnosed with an MI: 610 men and 121 women (35% fatal). The hazards by socioeconomic position showed a graded effect with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.57 (95% CI 1.23 to 2.03) for unskilled workers compared to executive managers. Despite a strong and graded association in risk of MI related to decision authority and skill discretion, only skill discretion mediated the effect of socioeconomic position. The HR for unskilled workers was reduced to 1.47 (0.93 to 2.31) after adjustment for decision authority and other cardiovascular risk factors, and to 1.07 (0.72 to 1.60) after adjustment for skill discretion and cardiovascular risk factors. No sign of synergy was found. CONCLUSIONS: Decision authority and skill discretion were strongly related to socioeconomic position; and the effect on risk of MI was partially mediated by skill discretion. Improvements in psychosocial work environment, especially possibilities for skill discretion, might contribute to reducing the incidence of MI and social inequality in MI.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Work environment of Danish shift and day workers.

OBJECTIVES: Both shift work and other work environment factors have been shown to be related to heart disease. This study examined whether shift work is associated with other work environment factors related to heart disease in a random sample of the population. If so, shift work could be acting as a proxy for work environment differences. METHODS: Data on 5940 employees in the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study from 1990 were reanalyzed. The information included work schedules [permanent day work, irregular workhours (including morning work), 2-shift or fixed evening and 3-shift or fixed night], length of workweek, physical factors (noise, heat, dust, passive smoking, walking, standing and monotonous repetitive tasks), and psychosocial factors (including demands and control dimensions, social support, conflicts and job insecurity). RESULTS: At least 1 group of shift workers had a higher prevalence of nearly every unfavorable work environment factor investigated. Exceptions were dust exposure and quantitative demands. Especially conflicts at work and low decision latitude were higher among all the groups of shift workers, and all-day walking or standing work and part-time jobs were more often found among female shift workers. The 3 different shiftwork groups were exposed to different parts of the work environment, and also men and women in shift work differed in relation to the work environment. Age and social class influenced the relationship, but not in any particular pattern. CONCLUSIONS: In a heterogenous population shift work was found to be associated with other work environment factors suspected to cause heart disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Standing at work and varicose veins.

OBJECTIVES: This study attempts to determine whether or not prolonged standing at work involves an excess risk for the occurrence of varicose veins. METHODS: A cohort of 1.6 million 20-to-59-year-old Danes gainfully employed in 1991 were followed for 3 years according to first hospitalization due to varicose veins of the lower extremities. The exposure data came from a representative sample of the baseline population. Altogether 5940 people were interviewed about occupational exposure and confounding factors. RESULTS: For men working mostly in a standing position, the risk ratio for varicose veins was 1.85 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.33-2.36] in a comparison with all other men. The corresponding risk ratio for women was 2.63 (95% CI 2.25-3.02). The results were adjusted for age, social group, and smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Working in a standing position is associated with subsequent hospitalization due to varicose veins for both men and women.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Development and Application of a Work-process Classification.

Occupational exposures are related to work processes carried out by the individual worker. A classification of the work processes was developed on the basis of analyses of several databases. Work-process data were collected in a sample of Danish employees. An unambiguous, exhaustive work-process classification was developed where the work process was defined as the transformation of a work object into a product. A test showed that at least 85% of free-text data on occupational injuries contained work-process data. To illustrate applications of the classification, work-process data were used to define highly exposed and unexposed job groups. This classification may be useful for (for example) major general surveys to supplement the exposure information that job and industry classifications yield.

Journal Article↗