Objective
We studied associations between pancreatic cancer and occupational exposures to metals, solvents, chemicals and endotoxin in a cohort of female textile workers in Shanghai, China. To assess the longer-term influences of these agents on pancreatic cancer we extended follow-up of this previously-studied cohort.
Methods
We utilized a job exposure matrix to assess occupational exposures for 481 pancreatic cancer cases and a randomly-selected subcohort of 3191 non-cases. We calculated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Cox proportional hazards modeling adapted for the case-cohort design.
Results
We observed a statistically significant trend of increasing hazard ratios associated with solvent exposure, but no associations with any of the remaining occupational exposures, including endotoxin and metals.
Conclusions
Our findings of increasing risk of pancreatic cancer with solvent exposures are consistent with published literature.
Purpose Supervisors in the healthcare sector have the potential to contribute to disability prevention in injured employees. Published data on the evaluation of return to work (RTW) interventions aimed at direct supervisors are scarce. We sought to determine the effect of a brief audiovisual supervisor training module on supervisor RTW attitudes and knowledge. Methods A parallel-group study, using equal randomization, comparing the training module intervention to usual practice in healthcare supervisors at a quaternary care hospital was conducted. Differences between groups in changes in RTW attitude and knowledge survey question scores between baseline and 3 months were assessed using the Mann-Whitney U test. The Benjamini-Hochberg-Yekutieli procedure was used to control for false discovery rate and generate adjusted p values. Results Forty supervisors were allocated to the intervention group and 41 to the usual practice group. Attitude and knowledge scores for most questions improved between baseline and immediately after intervention administration. Comparing intervention (n = 33) and usual practice groups (n = 37), there was a trend toward greater increase between baseline and 3 months follow-up in agreement that the supervisor can manage the RTW process (U = 515, adjusted p value = 0.074) and in confidence that the supervisor can answer employees' questions (U = 514, adjusted p value = 0.074) in the intervention group, although these findings were not statistically significant. Conclusions The training intervention may have provided the initial tools for supervisors to navigate the RTW process in collaboration with others in the RTW community of practice. A larger study with longer follow-up is needed to confirm results.
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