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Biomedical subjects

T D Sterling

Publications and source records attributed to T D Sterling.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Changes in smoking characteristics by type of employment from 1970 to 1979/80.

Changes in the distribution of smoking status between and within occupations by sex, race, and age are examined for 1970 and 1979/80, 10 years that saw rapid changes in smoking prevalence. The pattern of occupation within smoking categories remains basically unchanged, and, in fact, becomes more pronounced among males. The probability of young people taking up smoking remains tied to eventual occupational choice. The decline in smoking prevalence is larger among the employed than among those who are not employed. There has been a substantial increase in refusals to answer questions about smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Smoking and hospital utilization.

Remaining lifetime hospital days (RLHD) are used as estimates of possible differences in medical care costs between ever smokers and never smokers. Hospital usage by age in days per person per year comes from the 1970 U.S. National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) of some 40,000 households. Life table analysis for relative longevity of ever smokers and never smokers is based on mortality ratios presented in the American Cancer Society's Million Person Study. Results are similar to those obtained by Leu and Schaub for Swiss medical costs. There is no consistent increase in RLHD for ever smokers. In fact, male ever smokers older than 44 years and female ever smokers older than 38 years can expect fewer RLHDs than never smokers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Errors in estimates of smoking-related deaths derived from nonsmoker mortality.

A number of recent analyses have computed present and future costs associated with a risk by estimating what would happen if the risk were absent. Two sources of bias are associated with this approach: (1) differences in confounding factors between present risk avoiders and risk takers, and (2) the difficulty of selecting an unbiased sample of risk avoiders. A staff memo from the Office of Technology Assessment used this approach to estimate mortality due to smoking. Numbers of deaths and age at death distributions of U.S. smokers and nonsmokers for all causes, all cancers, lung cancers, heart disease, and cerebrovascular lesions are used to assess the accuracy of these estimates. Large errors in the OTA estimates are found. Conditions are discussed that might help reduce errors from this approach.

Humans↗
PubMed1987

Environmental tobacco smoke and indoor air quality in modern office work environments.

Recent attempts to clean the air in modern sealed office buildings appear to have focused on one component of indoor air quality, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Prohibiting smoking entirely or designating specific smoking areas has been suggested to improve comfort of office workers and reduce acute symptoms of so-called "building illness." The effectiveness of such methods, as well as the overall relation of ETS to indoor air quality, are here evaluated, based on reviews of a large number of studies of indoor air quality in modern office buildings under normal use and occupancy. Under these conditions, ETS does not appear to contribute significantly to a build-up of contaminants in offices. Also, in two large series of studies of buildings with health and comfort complaints in the US and Canada, ETS does not appear to be associated with cases of building illness.

Air↗
PubMed1986

Indirect health effects of relative humidity in indoor environments.

A review of the health effects of relative humidity in indoor environments suggests that relative humidity can affect the incidence of respiratory infections and allergies. Experimental studies on airborne-transmitted infectious bacteria and viruses have shown that the survival or infectivity of these organisms is minimized by exposure to relative humidities between 40 and 70%. Nine epidemiological studies examined the relationship between the number of respiratory infections or absenteeism and the relative humidity of the office, residence, or school. The incidence of absenteeism or respiratory infections was found to be lower among people working or living in environments with mid-range versus low or high relative humidities. The indoor size of allergenic mite and fungal populations is directly dependent upon the relative humidity. Mite populations are minimized when the relative humidity is below 50% and reach a maximum size at 80% relative humidity. Most species of fungi cannot grow unless the relative humidity exceeds 60%. Relative humidity also affects the rate of offgassing of formaldehyde from indoor building materials, the rate of formation of acids and salts from sulfur and nitrogen dioxide, and the rate of formation of ozone. The influence of relative humidity on the abundance of allergens, pathogens, and noxious chemicals suggests that indoor relative humidity levels should be considered as a factor of indoor air quality. The majority of adverse health effects caused by relative humidity would be minimized by maintaining indoor levels between 40 and 60%. This would require humidification during winter in areas with cold winter climates. Humidification should preferably use evaporative or steam humidifiers, as cool mist humidifiers can disseminate aerosols contaminated with allergens.

Aerosols↗
PubMed1986

Review of recent Vietnamese studies on the carcinogenic and teratogenic effects of phenoxy herbicide exposure.

The methodology and results of several Vietnamese studies on the possible health effects of exposure to herbicides among the Vietnamese during the Second Indochina War are reviewed. The results of the studies appear to link either paternal or maternal exposure to herbicides to unfavorable outcomes of pregnancy. There is some evidence to suggest that the injury to reproduction diminishes over time. Two studies found statistically significant odds ratios of 4.6 and 12.0 for hydatidiform moles after exposure. One case-control study found a statistically significant odds ratio of 5.2 for liver cancer. Elevated odds ratios were also found for major externally detectable birth defects. Many of the detailed findings are in agreement with the results of animal experiments. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese do not have the resources to fully examine the health effects of phenoxy herbicides. It is our hope that recognition of the importance of the Vietnamese studies will lead to further work in this area.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1986

Health effects of phenoxy herbicides. A review.

A review of epidemiological studies on the health effects of exposure to phenoxy herbicides suggests that exposure may be associated with an increased incidence of cancer and unfavorable outcomes of pregnancy. Studies on cancer have found increased risks of 5.3, 6.8 and 3.96 for soft-tissue sarcoma, 7.7 and 6.0 for stomach cancer, 2.05 for lung cancer, 4.8 for lymphoma, 2.3 for all cancers combined, and 5.2 for liver cancer after exposure to 2,4,5-T or dioxin contaminants. Several studies have suggested a possible increase in birth defects after paternal exposure. An increased risk of hydatidiform mole is suggested by Vietnamese studies on the effects of maternal exposure.

Carcinogens↗
PubMed1986

Extent, persistence, and constancy of the healthy worker or healthy person effect by all and selected causes of death.

Hypotheses about the extent, persistence, and constancy for different causes of the healthy worker effect are evaluated using the data of the Dorn Study of Mortality Among US Veterans. Those data were selected because persons who qualify to serve in the armed forces have health status comparable to that of persons able to seek employment. Mortality rates for 5-year age groups and standardized mortality ratios for younger, older, and all age groups were computed and compared to those of the US population for all causes, all cancers, heart disease, stroke, and selected other causes of death. A healthy worker effect of 20% to 40% reduced mortality was shown to persist over the entire age range for the various causes. The overall effect for all causes is 27%.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The 'healthy worker effect' on morbidity rates.

Studies relating mortality and occupation are difficult to interpret because of the "healthy worker effect." That effect is primarily due to the fact that individuals entering the labor force are in reasonably good health. A similar phenomenon might be expected in a comparison of morbidity among members of an occupational group with that of the general population. A comparison of morbidity among different population and occupation groups is made possible through the Household Interview Survey (HIS) of the National Center for Health Statistics. Data from the HIS for the years 1969 through 1974 were combined to form a sample classified according to race, sex, age, occupation, and occurrence of various health conditions. Among subjects between 25 and 59 years of age, age-specific morbidity ratios and standardized morbidity ratios were computed for blue-collar and professional/managerial employees and for unemployed who were either seeking or not seeking employment. There appears to be a "healthy worker morbidity effect" for chronic, but not for acute, conditions just as there is for mortality. The healthy worker effect for chronic morbidity maintains itself and, in fact, appears to increase throughout the 35-year period of stable employment. The age-specific morbidity ratio may have considerable theoretical importance for evaluating the related mortality experience of employed populations.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Economics and politics in the assessment of causes of building illness: the NAS/NRC Report on Indoor Pollutants.

How do some health scientists manage to avoid obvious antecedents of disease that are centered in the workplace? The 1981 National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAC/NRC) report entitled Indoor Pollutants is analyzed as an example of this avoidance. Although the report contributes to the understanding of technical problems of indoor pollution, its orientation and some of its conclusions are difficult to reconcile with known scientific findings. Reports of investigations done in response to complaints of white-collar workers are largely ignored, as are reports showing hazardously high carbon monoxide levels from cooking in the home and accounts of misuse of gas ranges for supplemental home heating on the part of low-income families. The major blame for indoor pollution is placed on human behavior, especially smoking; however, most investigations of building illness find not tobacco smoke but inadequate ventilation to be the major source of illness. The report demonstrates the limited viewpoint that continues to ignore the productive processes that dominate social relationships, including the economic and political forces that determine workers' activities and their work environment. Continuance of such an approach will hinder future investigations as to the true causes of building illness and detract from efforts to assign the proper social responsibilities for effecting the changes necessary to reduce health risks for white-collar workers.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1983

Possible effects on occupational lung cancer from smoking related changes in the mucus content of the lung.

A number of recent epidemiological studies of lung cancer among occupations that expose workers to dusts or toxic aerosols have reported a larger prevalence of lung cancer among non-smoking than among smoking workers. One recent study using Beagle dogs has also reported significantly fewer respiratory tumors among animals exposed to radon, radon daughters, uranium dust and tobacco smoke than among animals exposed similarly except for tobacco smoke. The evidence is summarized here that the increased mucus in the lungs of smokers may help in the elimination of dust and toxic substances by facilitating migration of particles and aerosols and possibly also adding protection by thickening of the mucus layer. Recent developments in use of in vivo magnetometric measurements of dust content of workers' lungs in fact indicate that lungs of chronically exposed miners and millers contain less dust if they smoke than if they do not. The hypothesis that increasing mucus in the lung of exposed workers may protect them against lung disease now needs experimental verification in appropriate animal studies. If protective qualities of lung mucus are verified, means need to be explored that will increase mucus flow in non-smoking (and smoking) workers exposed to respiratory hazards.

Aerosols↗
PubMed1983

Building illness in the white-collar workplace.

An increasing incidence of "building illness" is being noted among white-collar workers due to the high pollutant content of air in modern energy-efficient office buildings. These buildings are hermetically sealed, mechanically ventilated, and contain many materials that give off a variety of toxic fumes and aerosols. Severe outbreaks of illness have also been traced to ventilation problems in sealed hospital buildings. Similarly, tightly sealed and well insulated private homes present many sources of toxic pollutants to homemakers. Recent studies linking increases in the frequency and duration of respiratory illnesses with increasing pollution levels warn us that increases in indoor pollution levels should be avoided in the white-collar workplace, hospital, and private residence. Unfortunately, the cost of adequate ventilation of modern air-tight buildings is high. However, proper planning must be conducted to foresee and correct the impact of energy management policies on the livability and healthfulness of the indoor environment.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1982

Health effects of chlorophenol wood preservatives on sawmill workers.

At the request of the International Woodworkers of America, Local 1-85, woodworkers in two Port Alberni, British Columbia, sawmills were surveyed for health complaints possibly associated with chlorophenol exposure. On the basis of their exposure to anti-sapstain, workers were divided into low/moderate and high exposure groups. Health status was determined through a questionnaire that included lists of symptoms associated with exposure to chlorophenates and their contaminants. Extensive differences were found between exposure groups, especially in terms of the prevalence and extensiveness of symptoms related to dermatological, upper and general respiratory, and neurological structures and functions. Significant elevations of a wide range of other symptom complaints directly related to chemical exposure were also found. While improved spray control operations and the use of personal protective equipment will decrease injury among workers, they cannot be expected to decrease the hazards of chlorophenol exposure to an acceptable level. The only effective means of eliminating worker and public health risks attendant with these chemical exposures is to implement an alternative means of anti-sapstain treatment and to seek an end to the use of chlorophenol for this purpose.

Adult↗