Objective. To describe the patterns of persistent symptomatology in workers industrially exposed to organophosphate pesticides. Material and Methods. An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was performed. A questionnaire was applied to managers of a factory and to 89 workers, whose erythrocytic cholinesterase level was measured with the Magnotti and Lovibond method. Information is described through rates, central tendency measures and dispersion. Differences between groups were evaluated with the χ 2 test and the odds ratio was calculated. Results. Persistent symptomatology was found in 6.3 per 10 workers. 50% had six or more symptoms. No significant differences were found as to the risk of suffering from persistent symptomatology with respect to age, length of service or position at work. However, the highest proportion of symptoms was found in workers of 31 to 40 years of age, with 6 to 13 years of service, from the maintenance area, working as general operators or supervisors. Among the 13 workers with previous intoxication, the prevalence of persistent symptomatology was 6.9 against 6.1 in workers who had not been intoxicated before. The risk of acute poisoning in workers with more than 14 years of service was 4 times greater than in workers with less than 14 years of service (p<0.005). Average level of blood cholinesterase was normal (4.4 u/ml). Conclusions. Results show a relationship between exposure to organophosphate pesticides and presence of persistent symptoms. It is necessary to study the prevalence of this symptomatology in exposed and nonexposed populations. Palacios-Nava ME, Paz-Román P, Hernández-Robles S, Mendoza-Alvarado L. Sintomatología persistente en trabajadores industrialmente expuestos a plaguicidas organofosforados.
The prevalence of symptoms, illnesses and cholinesterase levels found in this study may serve as baseline values for future comparisons of the health effects of pesticide exposure. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html.
Burnout frequently is associated with stressors present in the medical field. The objective of this study was to identify the association between working conditions, stress burnout and somatic symptoms residents and senior doctors. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 724 physicians from hospitals in Mexico City. We evaluated socio-demographic characteristics, working conditions, stress, burnout, and somatic symptoms. Wolfgang, Maslach and Kroenke inventories were used. They had a reliability of 0.91, 0.83 and 0.78, respectively. There were significant differences in the working conditions of residents and senior doctors, p<0.001. There was a higher prevalence of stress in residents than in doctors, p=0.006 The prevalence of emotional exhaustion was 44% for residents and 23% in doctors, p <0.001. The level of depersonalization was 51% and 46%, respectively, p = 0.004. These had significant differences according to working conditions. The risk of presenting severe somatic symptoms was 3.5 times higher in those who had a high stress level (CI 2.45-5.33). The risk of having severe symptoms was three times higher in those who perceived supervision (CI 1.49-2.9) and workload as excessive (CI 2.06-4.11). The risk of burnout was twice as high for those who reported excessive workload, performed guards, and attended more than 20 patients per day. We found significant differences in the levels of stress, burnout, and severity of symptoms according to professional category and working conditions between residents and senior doctors.
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