BackgroundWhile work-related fatigue has become an issue of concern among European employees, the relationship between fatigue, depression and work-related stressors is far from clear. The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the associations of fatigue with work-related stressors, severe medical disease, health behavior and depression in the working population and (2) to determine the unique impact of work-related stressors on fatigue.MethodsWe used cross-sectional data of N = 7,930 working participants enrolled in the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS) from 2007 to 2012 filled out the Personal Burnout Scale (PBS) of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ), the PHQ-9, and a list of work-related stressors.ResultsA total of 27.5% reported increased fatigue, esp. women, younger persons with a lower social status and income, smokers, severely medically ill, previously and currently depressed participants. Fatigue was consistently associated with severe medical disease, health behavior and depression, which need to be taken into account as potential confounders when analyzing its relationship to work-related strains. Depression was consistently associated with work-related stressors. However, after statistically partialling out depression, fatigue was still significantly associated with work-related stress.ConclusionsFatigue as an indicator of allostatic load is consistently associated with work-related stressors such as work overload after controlling for depression. The brief Personal Burn-out Scale is suitable for assessing work-related fatigue in the general population.

Aims The aim of this study was to assess the influence of concomitant caffeine intake on the pharmacokinetics of oral melatonin , a probe drug for CYP1A2 activity. Methods Twelve healthy subjects, six smokers and six nonsmokers, were given melatonin (6 mg) either alone or in combination with caffeine (3 ¥ 200 mg). Blood samples for the analysis of melatonin or caffeine and paraxanthine were taken from 1 h before until 6 h after intake of melatonin. Subjects were genotyped with respect to the CYP1A2 * 1F ( C734A ) polymorphism. Results When caffeine was coadministered the C max and AUC of melatonin were increased on average by 142% ( P = 0.001, confidence interval on the difference 44, 80%) and 120% ( P < 0.001, confidence interval on the difference 63, 178%), respectively. The inhibitory effect of caffeine was more pronounced in nonsmokers and in individuals with the * 1F/ * 1F genotype. Conclusion The results of this study revealed a pronounced effect of caffeine on the bioavailability of orally given melatonin, most probably due to inhibition of CYP1A2 activity.

There is growing public concern that radio frequency electromagnetic fields may have adverse biological effects. In the present study eight healthy male students were tested to see whether or not radio frequency electromagnetic fields as used in modern digital wireless telecommunication (GSM standard) have noticeable effects on salivary melatonin, cortisol, neopterin, and immunoglobulin A (sIgA) levels during and several hours after exposure. In a specifically designed, shielded experimental chamber, the circularly polarized electromagnetic field applied was transmitted by an antenna positioned 10 cm behind the head of upright sitting test persons. The carrier frequency of 900 MHz was pulsed with 217 Hz (average power flux density 1 W/m2). In double blind trials, each test person underwent a total of 20 randomly allotted 4 hour periods of exposure and sham exposure, equally distributed at day and night. The results obtained show that the salivary concentrations of melatonin, cortisol, neopterin and sIgA did not differ significantly between exposure and sham exposure.

BackgroundIn Germany, about 70,000 teachers and educational staff were teaching at more than 3,000 special schools during the school year 2010/2011. Nursing services like lifting pupils form a substantial part of the work content of the staff at special schools. Since nursing care often involves carrying and lifting pupils, there is a reason to assume an adverse effect on the musculoskeletal health of teachers and other professionals. With the present study we aimed to describe the prevalence and risk factors of chronic back pain among employees at this type of school.MethodsThe cross-sectional survey was carried out between August 2010 and August 2012 at 13 special schools focusing on motoric and/or holistic development of handicapped children in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). Teachers and educational staff were interviewed using a questionnaire. We applied multivariable logistic regression analyses to identify influencing factors of chronic back pain.ResultsAltogether 395 persons (response rate: 59.7%) participated in our study. Respondents were mostly female (86.8%) with a mean age of 45 years. The prevalence of chronic back pain was 38.7%. More than 40% reported frequently carrying and lifting heavy loads (>20 kg). Age [adjusted OR = 1.03 (95%-CI 1.00-1.05) for 1-year increase in age], current smoking [adjusted OR = 2.31 (95%-CI 1.27-4.23)], depression/depressive mood [adjusted OR = 1.85 (95%-CI 1.12-3.06)], frequently carrying and lifting heavy loads [adjusted OR = 2.69 (95%-CI 1.53-4.75)], and frequent exposure to environmental impacts [adjusted OR = 2.18 (95%-CI 1.26-3.76)] were influencing factors of chronic back pain in the final multivariable regression model.ConclusionsA large proportion of teachers and educational staff suffered from chronic back pain in our study, indicating a high need for treatment in this professional group. Increasing age, current smoking, a diagnosed depression/depressive mood, carrying and lifting heavy loads, and exposure to environmental impacts were associated with chronic back pain. Due to the sparse literature on the topic, further studies using a longitudinal design are necessary for a better understanding of the risk factors of chronic back pain.

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Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) suffer from hypoxaemia even under normobaric conditions and the reduction of inspiratory PO2 (O2 partial pressure) during air travel corresponding to an altitude of 1,800-2,450 m might be a problem for these patients. Ten CF patients and 27 healthy control subjects were investigated in a chamber where the ambient pressure was reduced to that found at 2,000 and 3,000 m. The respiratory function was reduced in the CF patients with a vital capacity of 3.1 (0.3) l [vs 4.9 (0.2) l in controls; mean (SEM)] and a forced expiratory 1-s volume of 2.1 (0.3) l [vs 4.3 (0.20 l in controls], unrelated to the reduction in ambient pressure. Mean arterial PO2 decreased from 75 (4) mmHg [85 (1) mmHg in controls, P<0.01] at sea level to 58 (3) mmHg at 580 mmHg and to 46 (1) mmHg [58 (1) mmHg and 49 (2) mmHg in controls, n.s.] at 513 mmHg ambient pressure. These results indicate that during air travel with a cabin pressure that corresponds to an altitude of 2,500 m, the arterial PO2 of CF patients is likely to remain above the accepted critical value of 50 mmHg. However, a further reduction of the pressure to that found at 3,000 m altitude may lead to severe hypoxia in patients with moderate airway obstruction.

Background: Health behavior is presumed to be influenced by organizational factors. This study analyzes how workplace characteristics influence health behavior in terms of participation at health measures. Methods: Employees of the German Federal Ministry of Defense were surveyed at the beginning (January / February 2015) and at the end (June 2015) of the trial phase of workplace health promotion (WHP). Differences in participation of characteristic groups were calculated using Pearson's Chi 2-Test and T-Test, chances of participation were estimated using multilevel logistic regression. Results: Employees who reported higher satisfaction with work demand participated more often in health measures (aOR: 1.02, 95%-CI = 1.01, 1.04, p < 0.001). Large amount of variance in participation can be attributed to department level. Conclusion: Participation at WHP varies significantly between settings after controlling for individuals' characteristics. Thus, working characteristics should be considered as a decisive factor for WHP effectiveness. There is consensus that behavioral prevention is most effective when conditional prevention is granted as behavior is presumed to be influenced by individuals´environmental conditions. Though objective working conditions may seem similar further context characteristics which remain unconsidered may lead to different behavior patterns. This article shows that more attention must be payed to setting specific characteristics with regard to effective Occupational Health Promotion. This project is registered by the Federal Ministry of Defense (research number: E/U2AD/ED003/EF555).